KIM IL SUNG
WORKS
WORKING PEOPLE OF THE WHOLE WORLD, UNITE!
KIM IL SUNG
WORKS
6
June 1950-December 1951
FOREIGN LANGUAGES PUBLISHING HOUSE
PYONGYANG, KOREA
198 1
CONTENTS
LET US WIPE OUT THE INVADERS BY A DECISIVE
COUNTEROFFENSIVE
Speech Delivered at the Extraordinary Meeting of the Cabinet
of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, June 25, 1950 .1
GO ALL OUT FOR VICTORY IN THE WAR
Radio Address to All the Korean People, June 26, 1950 .8
THE TASKS OF POLITICAL PARTIES FOR THE VICTORY
OF THE FATHERLAND LIBERATION WAR
Speech Delivered at the Joint Conference of the Chairmen of Provincial
Committees of the Workers’ Party of Korea, the Democratic Party
of North Korea and the Chondoist Chongu Party
of North Korea, June 27, 1950 . 15
CONGRATULATORY MESSAGE TO ALL THE PEOPLE OF KOREA,
THE PEOPLE’S ARMY, AND THE CITIZENS OF SEOUL,
ON THE OCCASION OF THE LIBERATION OF SEOUL
June 28, 1950 .25
ON CONFERRING UNIT TITLES
Order No. 7 of the Supreme Commander of the Korean
People’s Army, July 5, 1950 .27
REPEL THE US IMPERIALIST INVASION!
Radio Address to All the Korean People, July 8, 1950 . 28
1
TO THE PEOPLE’S ARMY UNITS WHICH PARTICIPATED
IN THE COMBAT TO LIBERATE TAEJON
Order of the Supreme Commander of the Korean People’s Army,
July 23, 1950 . 37
ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS RAISED BY MR. MANIAN,
CORRESPONDENT OF L ’HUMANITE
July 27, 1950 .39
ON ORGANIZING THE WORK OF STUDYING
AND POPULARIZING COMBAT EXPERIENCE
IN THE FATHERLAND LIBERATION WAR
Order No. 085 of the Supreme Commander of the Korean
People’s Army, August 12, 1950 .43
LET US DESTROY THE US IMPERIALIST AGGRESSORS
AND ACHIEVE COMPLETE LIBERATION OF THE COUNTRY
Order No. 82 of the Supreme Commander of the Korean
People’s Army, August 15, 1950 .45
EVERYTHING TO THE FRONT
Report at the Pyongyang Celebration of the Fifth Anniversary
of the August 15 Liberation, August 15, 1950 .50
LET US DEFEND THE HOME FRONT SOLIDLY
Speech at the Consultative Meeting of Senior Cadres
of the Ministries of the Interior and National Defence,
the Chairmen of Provincial People’s Committees
and the Chiefs of Provincial Interior Departments, August 29, 1950 .66
TASKS FOR ENSURING WARTIME AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION
Concluding Speech at the 24th Plenary Meeting
of the Cabinet of the Democratic People’s Republic
of Korea, September 1, 1950 .75
2
ON THE OCCASION OF THE SECOND ANNIVERSARY
OF THE FOUNDING OF THE DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE’S
REPUBLIC OF KOREA
Radio Address to All the Korean People, September 9, 1950 .84
ON IMPROVING COMMUNICATIONS TO SUIT
THE WARTIME CONDITIONS
Concluding Speech at the 26th Plenary Meeting of the Cabinet
of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, September 15, 1950 .101
TEMPORARY STRATEGIC RETREAT AND THE TASKS
OF PARTY ORGANIZATIONS
Speech at a Consultative Meeting of Provincial Party Committee
Chairmen , September 27, 1950 .108
LET US DEFEND EVERY INCH OF OUR MOTHERLAND
AT THE COST OF OUR BLOOD
Radio Address to All the Korean People, October 11, 1950 . 116
ON FORMING WORKERS’ PARTY OF KOREA
ORGANIZATIONS IN THE PEOPLE’S ARMY
Concluding Speech Delivered at a Meeting of the Political
Committee of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party
of Korea, October 21, 1950 .122
LET US BE FULLY PREPARED FOR A NEW COUNTEROFFENSIVE
Speech at a Meeting of Officers and Generals Assigned
to the Supreme Headquarters of the Korean People’s
Army, October 30, 1950 . 129
ON INTENSIFYING OPERATIONS BEHIND ENEMY LINES
Instructions Given to the Commander of the Second Corps
of the Korean People’s Army, November 1 7, 1950 . 141
3
ON THE OCCASION OF THE LIBERATION OF PYONGYANG
Appeal of the Supreme Commander of the Korean People’s
Army, December 9, 1950 .148
THE PRESENT SITUATION AND THE IMMEDIATE TASKS
Report at the Third Plenary Meeting of the Central Committee
of the Workers’ Party of Korea, December 21,1950 .152
(1) .153
(2) .161
(3) .167
(4) .170
CONCLUDING SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE THIRD
PLENARY MEETING OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE
OF THE WORKERS’ PARTY OF KOREA
December 23, 1950
178
OUR ART SHOULD BE CONDUCIVE TO EARLY
VICTORY IN THE WAR
Talk with Writers, Artists and Scientists, December 24, 1950
188
ON ORGANIZING AIRCRAFT-HUNTING TEAMS
Order No. 238 of the Supreme Commander of the Korean People’s
Army , December 29, 1950 .197
ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY
ON THE OCCASION OF THE NEW YEAR 1951
January 1, 1951
199
ON THE OCCASION OF THE LIBERATION OF SEOUL
Order No. 7 of the Supreme Commander of the Korean
People’s Army, January 5, 1951 .208
4
ON THE PRESENT SITUATION AND THE IMMEDIATE
TASKS OF THE DEMOCRATIC YOUTH LEAGUE
ORGANIZATIONS
Speech at the Joint Conference of the Central Committees
of the Democratic Youth Leagues of North and South
Korea, January 18, 1951 .210
SOME TASKS OF STABILIZING THE PEOPLE’S
LIVELIHOOD IN WARTIME
Concluding Speech at a Meeting of the Political Committee
of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party
of Korea, January 21, 1951 .225
ON MAPPING OUT THE MASTER PLAN FOR
THE POSTWAR RECONSTRUCTION OF PYONGYANG
Talk with City Planners, January 21, 1951 .234
ON THE POLICY OF THE WORKERS’ PARTY OF KOREA
FOR ITS FUTURE ACTIVITIES
Speech Delivered at a Joint Meeting of the Commanders and Political
Workers of the Combined Units of the Korean People's Army
and the Units of the Chinese People’s Volunteers, January 28, 1951 .240
FIGHT MORE BRAVELY FOR FINAL VICTORY
IN THE FATHERLAND LIBERATION WAR
Order No. 0097 of the Supreme Commander of the Korean
People’s Army, February 8, 1951 .249
ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS RAISED BY THE
ACTING HEAD OF THE CHINESE XINHUA NEWS
AGENCY BRANCH IN KOREA
February 11, 1951 .254
LET US PRODUCE MORE WEAPONS FOR THE FRONT
Talk with the Workers of Factory No. 65, February 17, 1951 .259
5
PROCLAMATION
February 24, 1951 .267
CENTRAL TASKS OF PARTY POLITICAL WORK
IN THE PEOPLE’S ARMY
Speech Delivered at the Meeting of the Chiefs of the Political
Departments of Korean People’s Army Corps and Divisions, March 6, 1951 .268
THE STRUGGLE FOR FOOD IS A STRUGGLE FOR THE
COUNTRY AND FOR VICTORY AT THE FRONT
Talk with Peasants in South Phyongan Province, March 15, 1951 .282
LET US KEEP THE UNIT PERFECTLY READY AND ALERT
Talk to Soldiers of Unit 657 of the Korean People’s
Army, March 17, 1951 .287
ON STRENGTHENING PARTY LIFE IN THE PEOPLE’S ARMY
Speech Delivered at the Second Meeting of Party Activists
of the General Staff of the Supreme Headquarters
of the Korean People’s Army, March 18, 1951 .298
ON IMPROVING THE WORK OF THE EDITORIAL
DEPARTMENT OF THE MAGAZINE MILITARY
KNOWLEDGE
Instruction to the Chief of the General Staff of the Supreme
Headquarters of the Korean People’s Army, April 26, 1951 .308
ENHANCE THE COMBAT EFFICIENCY OF THE UNIT
AND MAKE OUT COASTAL DEFENCE IMPREGNABLE
Speech to the Officers and Men of Unit 851 of the Korean
People’s Army, April 28, 1951 .314
ON THE OCCASION OF MAY DAY
Order No. 310 of the Supreme Commander of the Korean
People’s Army, May 1, 1951 .324
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TALK WITH A FACT-FINDING COMMISSION
FROM THE WOMEN’S INTERNATIONAL
DEMOCRATIC FEDERATION
May 27, 1951 .330
TALK WITH HEROES OF THE REPUBLIC AND MODEL SOLDIERS
June 29, 1951 .331
ON SOME QUESTIONS ARISING IN OUR LITERATURE
AND ART
Talk with Writers and Artists, June 30, 1951 .339
ON STRENGTHENING AIR DEFENCE
Talk with Cadres of the Supreme Headquarters of the Korean
People's Amy, July 13, 1951 .346
ON EXTENSIVE USE OF MORTARS
Instruction No. 00468 of the Supreme Commander of the Korean
People’s Army, August 11, 1951 .352
REPORT AT THE PYONGYANG MEETING TO
CELEBRATE THE SIXTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE
AUGUST 15 LIBERATION
August 14. 1951 .354
ON THE OCCASION OF THE SIXTH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE AUGUST 15 LIBERATION
Order No. 461 of the Supreme Commander of the Korean People’s
Army, August 15. 1951 .372
SUPPORTING THE FRONT IS AN IMPORTANT DUTY
OF THE MEMBERS OF THE WOMEN’S UNION
Talk with Workers of the Women’s Union, August 15, 1951 .377
7
ON ORGANIZING AND TRAINING TANK-HUNTING TEAMS
Order No. 0483 of the Supreme Commander of the Korean
People’s Army, August 24, 1951 .384
LET US DEFEND HEIGHT 1211 WITH LIVES
Talk with Commanders of Unit 256 of the Korean People’s
Army, September 23, 1951 .386
ON LAUNCHING A MODEL COMPANY MOVEMENT
Instructions to Personnel of the General Political Bureau of the Korean
People’s Army, October 29, 1951 .393
ON SOME DEFECTS IN THE ORGANIZATIONAL
WORK OF PARTY ORGANIZATIONS
Report to the Fourth Plenary Meeting of the Central Committee
of the Workers’ Party of Korea, November 1, 1951 .399
1. On the Party’s Organizational Work.401
(1) Shortcomings in Party Recruiting.402
(2) Defects in the Question of Penalties.405
(3) Shortcomings in Fostering the Core of the Party Cell.407
(4) Defects in the Allocation of Cadres.408
2. On the Work of Our Party Organizations in Relation to the Democratic
Front for the Reunification of Korea.409
3. The Causes of Shortcomings in Party Work.412
4. Our Tasks.416
ON IMPROVING THE PARTY’S ORGANIZATIONAL WORK
Concluding Speech at the Fourth Plenary Meeting of the Central
Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, November 2, 1951 .421
1. On Recruiting Work.421
2. On the Question of Penalties.424
3. For Consolidating the Democratic Front for the Reunification
of Korea.425
8
4. On the Question of Cadres.429
5. On Cadres from the Intelligentsia.430
6. On Style of Work.432
ON ORGANIZING TEAMS OF SNIPERS
Order No. 085 of the Supreme Commander of the Korean
People’s Army, November 2, 1951 .434
ON ORGANIZING AND GIVING MILITARY TRAINING
TO WORKERS OF MILLS, FACTORIES AND
OTHER ENTERPRISES
Order No. 00606 of the Supreme Commander of the Korean
People’s Army, November 17, 1951 .436
THE IMMEDIATE TASKS BEFORE HEALTH WORKERS
Talk to Health Workers, November 30, 1951 .438
TO RAISE OUR ART TO A HIGHER LEVEL
Speech Delivered to the Artists Who Participated in the World
Art Festival of Youth and Students, December 12, 1951 .443
ON ORGANIZING MOBILE BATTERIES (MORTAR PLATOONS),
SEPARATE HEAVY MACHINE GUN TEAMS, AND DEMOLITION
TEAMS BEHIND ENEMY LINES AND ON INTENSIFYING
SNIPERS’ ACTIVITY
Instruction No. 00651 of the Supreme Commander
of the Korean People’s Army, December 20,1951 .447
9
LET US WIPE OUT THE INVADERS
BY A DECISIVE COUNTEROFFENSIVE
Speech Delivered at the Extraordinary Meeting
of the Cabinet of the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea
June 25, 1950
Comrades,
Early at dawn today, the puppet army of the traitor Syngman
Rhee’s clique launched a surprise invasion against the northern half
of Korea along the entire 38th Parallel.
In order to prevent the expansion of war, the Government of the
Republic warned the enemy to stop their reckless armed attack at
once and declared that, if they did not, they would be held totally
responsible for the consequences arising from it. But the arrogant
enemy is spreading the flames of war. They have already advanced
one or two kilometres into the north, across the 38th Parallel and are
trying to swallow up the northern half of Korea in one gulp, through
an adventurous “blitzkrieg”.
At present, the brave Security Forces of our Republic are fighting
an intense battle around the 38th Parallel to frustrate the enemy
attack.
Under the direct manipulation of the US imperialists, the puppet
Syngman Rhee and his band had long been preparing for the
aggression against the northern half of Korea.
As early as 1946 the puppet Syngman Rheeites started pressing
1
young and middle-aged people in south Korea into their aggressive
army in preparation for the invasion of the northern half of Korea.
Last year they enforced the “Military Service Law” and increased the
puppet army strength on a large scale. The traitorous Syngman Rhee
clique shipped in plenty of weapons and equipment from the United
States to reinforce the puppet army. In addition, they recently brought
in a large amount of military equipment from Japan by openly
concluding a commercial treaty with the Japanese militarists.
While building up the puppet armed forces in a big way, the
Syngman Rhee clique prepared attack positions along the 38th
Parallel, massed huge forces there and frequently perpetrated armed
provocations against the northern half of Korea.
In 1947, they crossed the demarcation line at Pyoksong, Yonbaek
and their vicinities in the Ongjin Peninsula, and committed brigandish
acts-they slaughtered innocent children and aged people, set fire to
the homes of the people and plundered their property. In 1948, they
grew more aggressive in their invasion against the northern half of
Korea, which continued around Mt. Chiak in Hwanghae Province and
Kosan Hill in Kangwon Province, and battles were taking place
almost every day in these areas. At the beginning of 1949 the enemy’s
scheme to provoke a war became more blatant. They made large-scale
invasions on Kuksa Peak and Mt. Kkachi around the Ongjin
Peninsula, Mt. Songak south of Kumchon, Mt. Unpha in Hwanghae
Province, Yangyang and its vicinity in Kangwon Province-along the
38th Parallel. In particular, the “Horim Unit” and other “push north”
commandos penetrated into the north on a number of occasions for
the purpose of causing confusion in our ranks, disturbing the public,
and facilitating invasion by the main forces of the puppet army. In
fact, the Syngman Rhee clique have been frantic in their efforts to
destroy our revolutionary gains and swallow up the northern half of
Korea.
In accordance with the instruction of the US imperialists to wipe
out the patriotic, democratic forces and guerrillas active in south
Korea, in order to make their home front “secure” before undertaking
2
the “northern expedition”, the Syngman Rhee clique outlawed the
activities of all democratic parties and social organizations and
arrested, imprisoned and slaughtered patriots and progressive
democrats at random and unfolded many large-scale “punitive”
operations against the south Korean guerrillas. They viciously
manoeuvred to destroy munitions plants, railways, bridges and
communications establishments in the north, through large-scale
infiltration of spies and saboteurs.
The Government of the Republic has made every effort to prevent
fratricide and reunify the country in a peaceful way. Its consistent
stand is to solve the Korean question peacefully, through the efforts of
the Korean people themselves, not by war.
The Government of the Republic has made a number of most
realistic and reasonable proposals for this purpose. In June this year,
through the Democratic Front for the Reunification of Korea, the
Government of the Republic proposed to hold general elections on
democratic principles in both the north and the south, on the occasion
of the fifth anniversary of the August 15 liberation, to establish a
united supreme legislative body. This was followed by the proposal of
the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly of the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea addressed to the south Korean “National
Assembly” to achieve the peaceful reunification of the country by
merging the two bodies into one, for the whole of Korea. All these
proposals intended for avoiding a fratricidal bloodshed and reunifying
the country in a peaceful way, were supported unanimously by all the
Korean people and all the progressive people throughout the world.
The puppet Syngman Rhee’s clique, however, accepted none of
these fair and reasonable proposals for the peaceful reunification of
the country, and finally provoked the criminal, fratricidal war they
had been preparing for a long time.
By their invasion the traitorous Syngman Rhee puppet clique
plunged our country and people into great danger. Now the Korean
people find themselves in the midst of a serious crisis whose outcome
will decide whether they become colonial slaves of imperialism
3
again, or remain free people belonging to an independent and
sovereign state. Now that the puppet Syngman Rhee’s clique has
triggered off a civil war, we can never leave them alone. If we
hesitate to fight at this critical moment, our people will again be
unable to avoid the lot of being homeless. We must resolutely fight
the enemy in order to safeguard the independence of the motherland
and the freedom and honour of the nation. We will counter the
barbarous aggressive war of the enemy with the righteous war of
liberation.
Our People’s Army should frustrate the enemy offensive, launch a
decisive counteroffensive without delay and annihilate the invaders.
Frustrating the enemy’s surprise attack and switching over to
counterattack is, of course, no easy task. From the viewpoint of
military science, this requires a ready force several times stronger
than the attacking enemy. The units of the People’s Army and
Security Forces, now deployed along the 38th Parallel, are no more
than small defensive forces. Moreover, our People’s Army, as a
regular army, is only two years old and has no experience in modem
warfare. Under these conditions, it cannot but be a difficult task for us
to check the enemy’s surprise attack and launch a counteroffensive.
But we must and can do this.
Our war against the aggressive act of the traitorous Syngman Rhee
clique is a just war to safeguard democracy and the freedom and
independence of the country. History shows that a people fighting a
righteous war is sure to emerge victorious. Our people do not want to
undergo colonial enslavement by imperialists again and will never
yield to anybody the democratic freedom and rights already gained.
All the Korean people will take up arms and rise as one in the
righteous war to defend national independence, freedom and
democracy.
Though smaller in number, our People’s Army is incomparably
stronger than the enemy. It is the genuine armed force of the Korean
people, consisting of the excellent sons and daughters of the working
people including workers and peasants. The People’s Army is solidly
4
prepared in military technique and equipped with modem weapons.
Comradeship and voluntary discipline are predominant among the
soldiers. Politically and ideologically, every one of them is firmly
resolved to serve the country and the people devotedly. Due to this
superiority, the People’s Army can defeat the Syngman Rhee puppet
army.
Certain conditions and possibilities exist, under which we can
expand the ranks of the People’s Army within a short time. We have
trained the men and officers of the People’s Army on the principle of
making them the elite of the army, so that they can become cadres
with whom many new divisions can quickly be organized.
We have a solid home front capable of ensuring victory in the war.
All the people are closely united into the Democratic Front for the
Reunification of Korea, and the Government of the Republic, the
genuine democratic state power, is leading the masses of the people to
victory. The great united force of our people has been displayed in the
building of a democratic country since liberation, and in this war they
will prove to be an even more solidly united force by giving powerful
support to the front. We also have powerful economic foundations
which can produce goods to satisfy the demands of the front.
The international situation, too, favours us. Since the end of World
War II, the international reactionary forces have seriously weakened,
whereas the international democratic forces have rapidly grown in
strength, in particular, the triumph of the Chinese revolution last year
greatly changed the relationship among world political forces.
Because of it, there was a marked increase in the international
democratic forces, and the international reactionary forces were
weakened seriously. It was also a heavy blow to the Syngman Rhee
puppet clique. At present, Jiang Jieshi and his ilk are not in a position
to help the Syngman Rhee puppet clique. In contrast, we are enjoying
the active support and encouragement from the peoples of many
countries including the Soviet Union and China.
Since we have the Party, the Government of the Republic, the
strong People’s Army, the solid home front and international support
5
and encouragement, we are sure to win. All the people and the men
and officers of the People’s Army must rise as one, firmly convinced
of victory in the great, sacred war of annihilating the enemy.
The Ministry of National Defence must quickly send
reinforcements to the counterattacking People’s Army units on the
front, so as to increase the momentum of their advance. Men and
officers of the People’s Army should display to the full unparalleled
bravery and mass heroism in the battle and fight courageously,
devoting all their efforts to it
The Party, state and economic bodies should place all their work
on a war footing and mobilize all their forces for winning the war.
The State Planning Commission should adjust the current year’s
national economic plan to the war circumstances and slash capital
construction to the minimum, so that every effort in all fields of
national economy is concentrated on meeting the material need of the
front.
All ministries should take measures to render material support to
the People’s Army. The Ministry of Industry should ensure a massive
production of munitions, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
should provide the front with sufficient staple and non-staple food,
the Ministry of Transport should carry in time munitions and other
supplies to the front, the Ministry of Communications should
guarantee prompt and accurate communications between battle and
home fronts, and the Ministry of Public Health should ensure efficient
supply of medical requirements and rescue and treatment of the
wounded. At the same time, all the ministries should strive to fulfil
the Two-Year National Economic Plan in step with the victorious
advance of the People’s Army.
All the people, being more than ever ready and alert, should work
hard to carry out their tasks successfully. Workers, technicians and
office employees should launch a vigorous struggle for increased war
production, with the greatest of enthusiasm and creative initiative,
and the peasants should strive to produce even a single grain of rice
more.
6
Public order should be strictly maintained. All institutions should
establish a strict work order and enforce it thoroughly. People’s
government bodies and organs of the interior should be fully prepared
to counter the enemy’s air raids and, in case of need, lead the people
to the shelters in an orderly manner.
Enemy spies, subversive elements and saboteurs can viciously
manoeuvre to disrupt our home front and ferret out secrets. Keeping
sharp revolutionary vigilance, all the people should strengthen the
struggle against spies, subversive elements, saboteurs and other
undesirable heterogeneous elements and expose all of them. All
factories and enterprises should organize their own self-defence coips
to guard their industrial facilities, rather than totally rely on the
Industrial Guards for the security of their places of work, and the
interior service organs should tighten guard over bridges and key
points on the railway lines.
All people must give stronger support to the People’s Army and
the Security Forces and replenish the ranks of the People’s Army
constantly. At this solemn moment, when the destiny of the country
and the nation is at stake, it is most honourable for the ardent young
people to join the People’s Army and fight the enemy at the risk of
their lives. Young men and women should, therefore, zealously
volunteer for the People’s Amy to serve the country and the people.
We may come across many a difficulty in the war. We must
bravely overcome them, no matter what they are, and ultimately win
the war.
7
GO ALL OUT FOR VICTORY IN THE WAR
Radio Address to All the Korean People
June 26, 1950
Dear fellow countrymen,
Dear brothers and sisters,
Officers, noncommissioned officers and men of our People’s
Army,
Guerrillas operating in the southern half of Korea,
On behalf of the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic
of Korea, I make this appeal to you:
On June 25, the army of the puppet government of the traitor
Syngman Rhee launched an all-out offensive along the 38th Parallel
against the northern half of Korea. The valiant Security Forces of the
Republic, fighting fierce battles to counter the enemy’s invasion, have
frustrated the advance of the Syngman Rhee army.
The Government of the DPRK, having discussed the situation,
ordered our People’s Army to start decisive counteroffensive action
and wipe out the enemy’s armed forces. On the orders of the
Government of the Republic, the People’s Army drove the enemy
back from areas north of the 38th Parallel and has advanced 10 to 15
kilometres to the south. It has liberated a number of towns including
Ongjin, Yonan, Kaesong and Paechon, and many villages.
The traitorous Syngman Rhee clique has launched a fratricidal war
although all the patriotic people of our country have made every
effort to reunify the country by peaceful means.
It is universal knowledge that the Syngman Rhee clique is dead set
against the country’s peaceful reunification and has long since
prepared for civil war. It made a frenzied effort to expand armaments
and madly prepared its rear by bleeding the people in south Korea
white. Through unheard-of terrorist suppression, it outlawed all
democratic political parties and social organizations in south Korea,
arrested, imprisoned and killed patriotic, progressive personalities,
and ruthlessly suppressed the slightest manifestation of discontent
against its reactionary regime. Hundreds of thousands of the best sons
and daughters of our people who fought for national independence,
freedom and democracy have been imprisoned and killed.
To cover up its design for civil war, the Syngman Rhee clique
incessantly provoked clashes on the 38th Parallel to keep our people
in a state of constant tension and sought to shift the responsibility for
these onto the DPRK. In preparing for the so-called “push north”, the
Syngman Rhee clique, on the instructions of the US imperialists, did
not even hesitate to begin colluding with the Japanese militarists, the
sworn enemy of the Korean people.
The traitorous Syngman Rhee clique has sold the southern half of
our country to the US imperialists for a colony and a strategic
military base and placed its economy under the control of US
monopoly capitalists.
The US imperialists have seized the arteries of the economy in the
southern half and completely dislocated the national economy. They
are plundering rice, tungsten, graphite and many other natural
resources which our country vitally needs. Middle and small
entrepreneurs and traders in south Korea, under pressure from US
capital, find themselves doomed to bankruptcy. The majority of
factories and mills have been closed down, the number of
unemployed people has reached several million, peasants have not yet
been given land and agriculture is declining year by year. The people
in south Korea are in a wretched plight and on the verge of starvation.
Dear fellow countrymen,
The Government of the DPRK, together with all patriotic,
9
democratic political parties and social organizations and all the
people, has done all it could to avoid a fratricidal war and the horrors
of bloodshed and to reunify our country by peaceful means. As early
as April 1948, the Joint Conference of Representatives of Political
Parties and Social Organizations of North and South Korea made the
first attempt to reunify our country by peaceful means.
The traitorous Syngman Rhee clique, however, frustrated this
attempt and, on instructions from the US imperialists and their tool for
aggression, the so-called “UN Temporary Commission on Korea”,
staged separate elections in south Korea on May 10, 1948, and stepped
up preparations for an armed attack on the northern half of our country.
With a view to attaining the peaceful reunification and full
independence of the country, in June last year the 72 patriotic
political parties and social organizations in north and south Korea
affiliated to the Democratic Front for the Reunification of Korea
proposed reunifying our country peacefully by holding general
elections. All the Korean people enthusiastically supported this
proposal, but the traitorous Syngman Rhee clique rejected it, too.
The Democratic Front for the Reunification of Korea reflected the
will of all the people when, on June 7, 1950, it again made a proposal
to expedite the peaceful reunification of the country. But the
traitorous Syngman Rhee gang also prevented this proposal from
being carried out, threatening to label anyone favouring it as a traitor.
On June 19, 1950, the Presidium of the Supreme People’s
Assembly of the DPRK expressed its unshakable will for the
country’s reunification, independence and democratic advance, in
accordance with the wishes of all democratic political parties and
social organizations, and advanced a proposal for achieving peaceful
reunification by uniting the Supreme People’s Assembly of the DPRK
and the south Korean “National Assembly” into a single all-Korea
legislative body.
The traitorous Syngman Rhee clique responded to the unanimous
desire of all the Korean people for peaceful reunification and our just,
sincere proposal by launching civil war.
10
What is this traitorous clique’s objective in the civil war it has
ignited?
Through fratricidal war, the traitorous Syngman Rhee clique seeks
to extend its anti-people, reactionary system of rule to the northern
half of Korea and rob our people of the achievements they have
scored in the democratic reforms.
The reactionary Syngman Rhee gang aims at taking the land away
from the peasants in the northern half of Korea who have become the
masters of the land as a result of the agrarian reform carried out on
the principle of confiscation without compensation and free
distribution, and at returning it to the landlords. It wants to deprive
the people in the northern half of all the democratic liberties and
rights they have won. The traitorous Syngman Rhee clique seeks to
turn our country into a colony of US imperialism and make all the
Korean people slaves of US imperialism.
Dear brothers and sisters,
Our country and people are in great danger.
In this war against the Syngman Rhee gang the Korean people
must defend the DPRK and its Constitution with their lives, wipe out
the traitorous puppet regime and liberate the southern half of our
country from the reactionary rule of the traitorous Syngman Rhee
clique, restore the people’s committees, organs of genuine people’s
power, in the southern half and win the cause of the country’s
reunification under the banner of the DPRK.
The war we are fighting against the fratricide provoked by the
traitorous Syngman Rhee clique is a just one-a war for the country’s
reunification, independence, freedom and democracy.
If they do not want to become the slaves of foreign imperialists
again, all the Korean people must rise as one in the national-salvation
struggle to overthrow and smash the traitorous Syngman Rhee
“regime” and its army. We must, at all costs, win ultimate victory.
All the Korean people must heighten their vigilance and keep
sharp watch on every movement of the US imperialists who stand
behind the traitorous Syngman Rhee clique.
11
Our People’s Army must prove itself brave and devoted in our just
struggle to defend the successful democratic reforms in the northern
half of Korea, liberate our compatriots in the southern half from
reactionary rule and reunify the country under the banner of the
People’s Republic.
The officers, noncommissioned officers and men of our People’s
Army have come from the people. The People’s Army, made up of
best sons and daughters of our people, is the true armed force of the
Korean people. The People’s Army men have been trained and
educated in the love of the country and the people. They are equipped
with highly efficient modem weapons and armed with a lofty patriotic
spirit with which they fight and sacrifice their lives in the interests of
the country and the people. All the People’s Army officers and men
must fight to the last drop of their blood for the country and the
people.
The people in the northern half of Korea must reorganize all their
work to put it on a war footing and muster all their strength for
victory in the war and wipe out the enemy in a short space of time.
We must organize all the people to support the People’s Army, send it
replacements and reinforcements continually, quickly transport all
necessities and munitions to the front and care for the wounded with
consideration and affection.
In order to ensure victory at the front, the rear of the People’s
Army must be made an impregnable fortress.
In the rear, an implacable struggle must be waged against deserters
and rumour-mongers, and work must be promptly organized to detect
and wipe out spies and subversive elements. The cunning and sinister
enemy will make every effort to spread misleading rumours. People
must not be fooled by the enemy’s vicious demagogy, and the organs
of state power of the Republic must mercilessly execute traitors who
aid the enemy.
Workers, technicians and office workers in the northern half of
Korea must defend the factories, mills, transport and communications
from enemy encroachment, faithfully carry out all production plans
12
and all tasks assigned to them and meet the needs of the front
promptly.
The peasants in the north must increase farm production, supply
the People’s Army with enough food and give it every assistance to
ensure victory.
Men and women guerrillas in the southern half of Korea must
wage guerrilla warfare more fiercely and bravely and establish
liberated areas and extend them by enlisting the broad masses of the
people in the guerrilla detachments. They must attack and wipe out
the enemy behind the lines, raid enemy headquarters, cut and destroy
railways, roads, bridges, telegraph and telephone lines, etc., cut off
communications between the enemy’s front and rear by every
possible means, and everywhere finish off traitors, restore the
people’s committees-the organs of people’s power-and actively
cooperate with the People’s Army in its operations.
Compatriots in the southern half should not obey the orders and
instructions of the puppet Syngman Rhee government but sabotage
them and disrupt the enemy’s home-front organizations.
Workers in the south must organize strikes and raise riots
everywhere. They must stop the fleeing enemy from destroying
factories, milk, mines, railways and other workplaces, and actively
aid the People’s Army to ensure victory.
Peasants in the southern half must not give food to the enemy.
They should take good care of this year’s crops, take an active part in
the guerrilla movement and spare nothing in cooperating with and
assisting the People’s Army in all ways.
Middle and small entrepreneurs and traders in the southern half
must cooperate in the struggle to extricate our country’s national
economy from the clutches of US monopoly capital by opposing the
Syngman Rhee “regime” and assisting the People’s Army.
Cultural workers and intellectuals in the southern half must
actively cooperate in the war against the traitorous Syngman Rhee
clique to achieve reunification and freedom and to secure conditions
for the development of national culture. They must thoroughly expose
13
the crimes of the traitorous Syngman Rhee gang to the masses of the
people and play to the full the role of motivation workers in
organizing mass revolts.
Officers and men of the “National Defence Army” of the puppet
south Korean government,
Your enemy is none other than the traitorous Syngman Rhee
clique. In the interests of the country and the people, you must lose no
chance to turn your guns upon this gang of traitors.
You should come over to the side of the People’s Army and the
guerrillas and join in the nationwide struggle for the reunification and
freedom of the country. You must take an honourable place in the
ra nks of fighters for the country’s freedom and independence by
coming out against the enemy of our people.
Dear compatriots, brothers and sisters,
I call upon all the Korean people to unite more closely around the
Government of the DPRK in order quickly to destroy the armed
forces and the police system of the traitorous Syngman Rhee clique.
The history of mankind shows that a people that defies death and
rises in the struggle for freedom and independence is always
victorious. Ours is a just struggle. Victory for our people is certain. 1
am confident that our just struggle for the country and the people will
triumph.
The time has come to reunify our country. Let us march forward
valiantly with firm confidence in victory!
Go all out to assist our People’s Army and the front!
Go all out to defeat and wipe out the enemy!
Long live the Korean people who have risen in a just, all-people
war!
Long live the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea!
Let us march forward to victory!
14
THE TASKS OF POLITICAL PARTIES
FOR THE VICTORY OF THE FATHERLAND
LIBERATION WAR
Speech Delivered at the Joint Conference of the Chairmen
of Provincial Committees of the Workers’ Party of Korea,
the Democratic Party of North Korea and the Chondoist
Chongu Party of North Korea
June 27, 1950
Comrades,
The present situation at the front is very favourable. The units of
our People’s Army continue to advance bravely, mopping up the
fleeing enemy and liberating many cities and villages in the southern
half of the country. Perhaps, they will be able to liberate Seoul
tomorrow.
Naturally, the Government of our Republic did not want a
fratricidal war. It had made a number of reasonable proposals to the
south Korean side for a peaceful reunification of the country and
exerted itself sincerely for their realization.
But the traitor Syngman Rhee’s clique have accepted none of
them. They even turned down the June 19 proposal of the Presidium
of the Supreme People’s Assembly of the DPRK, offering many
concessions, for the peaceful reunification of the country by merging
the SPA of the DPRK and the south Korean “National Assembly” into
a single legislative body for the whole of Korea, and provoked the
war.
15
It is obvious why the Syngman Rheeites are so doggedly opposed
to the reasonable proposals of our Government for peaceful
reunification. This was due to their conspiracy to turn not only south
Korea but also the northern half of Korea into a US imperialist
colony.
The Syngman Rhee clique are a band of puppets set up by the US
imperialists to realize their nefarious plan of conquest of Korea.
Hence, it is very clear why they did not accept our proposals which
reflect the interests and desire of all the Korean people.
Opposing peaceful reunification at the instigation and
manipulation of the US imperialists, the puppet clique are making
frantic efforts to turn our country into a US imperialist colony. They
have indiscriminately massacred the patriotic people who fought for
justice and democracy in south Korea, allowed dumping of surplus
goods from the United States to disrupt the national economy and
introduced decadent “Yankee culture” to obliterate our national
culture. They sold off south Korea to the US imperialists as their
colony.
The monolithic unity of the democratic forces and the daily
strengthening economic foundations and military power in the
northern half of Korea cannot but be a heavy blow at the Syngman
Rhee puppet clique who are trying to surrender the whole Korea to
the US imperialists. So they were long preparing for the desperate
gamble to launch a “push north” expedition to sell out the north as a
colony before its political, economic and military forces could
become stronger. They reinforced their military power by
compulsorily drafting young and middle-aged people, equipped the
puppet army with modem weapons and built military installations
along the 38th Parallel on a large scale. In order to guarantee the
“safety” of their rear, before venturing the “push north”, they banned
the progressive political parties and social organizations and carried
out massive “punitive” operations against the guerrillas in south
Korea. Besides, they infiltrated spies, subversive elements and
saboteurs into the northern half of Korea in order to undermine it
16
from within. And last su mm er they even got the “Horim Unit” of the
puppet army to penetrate into Kangwon Province. However, our
valiant people and Security Forces wiped it out.
While preparing for the attack, the Syngman Rhee puppet clique
bragged that they would “push north” and have breakfast in Haeju,
lunch in Pyongyang and supper in Sinuiju.
From the beginning of this year, they speeded up their
preparations on a full scale. Syngman Rhee visited Tokyo in
February, met MacArthur and struck a deal on the “north expedition”.
They deployed a large number of puppet troops along the 38th
Parallel and planned to start the offensive before July. At the
“inaugural ceremony of a young men’s association”, a high-ranking
officer of the south Korean puppet army blustered that the 38th
Parallel would disappear in June or July this year.
But we were not mere onlookers of the large-scale war
preparations being made by the Syngman Rhee puppet clique.
Keeping a watchful eye on every move of the enemy, we have taken
necessary steps to cope with the war. That is why we have been able
to frustrate their surprise attack quickly and go over to the
counteroffensive.
Our war against the puppet clique is a just all-people war for
national reunification, independence, freedom and democracy. We
must take this opportunity to liberate the south Korean people who
are groaning under the reactionary rule of the US imperialists and
their stooges, the Syngman Rhee puppet clique, and reunify the
country under the banner of the Republic.
There is not a shadow of doubt that we will win the war. Syngman
Rhee is reported to have already fled Seoul.
But we must not allow ourselves to become complacent, shouting
hurrah, hoping that everything will go on smoothly because the
People’s Army units are advancing south and because Syngman Rhee
has run away. We must not rest on our laurels. The puppet clique will
probably make a last-ditch stand. Moreover, you must remember that
they are backed up by the US imperialist aggressors and their
17
conspirators, the Japanese militarists. The cunning and insidious US
imperialists provoked this attack by the puppet troops as a prelude to
direct armed intervention to colonize our country and enslave our
people. US President Truman has issued a special statement on
dispatching their air and naval forces now in Japan to the Korean
front. This shows that the US imperialists have openly started armed
intervention to realize their aggressive designs on Korea. It can be
presumed that they will dispatch large aggressor forces to our
country.
As early as the mid-19th century the US imperialists conceived an
aggressive design on our country and ever since have worked in every
way to that end. In the past, while manoeuvring to conquer our
country by force of arms, they also used religion as a means of
enslaving our people. They built churches in all parts of our land and
preached a doctrine of nonresistance. American missionaries
sermonized to Koreans, “Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right
cheek, turn to him the other also.” This meant that the Korean people
should not resist, even if the United States were to invade Korea.
Masquerading under the cloak of “humanism”, the American
missionaries had no scruples about committing unimaginable
brutalities in our country. An American missionary who resided in
Sunan a long time ago etched the word “thief’ with hydrochloric acid
on the forehead of a Korean child simply because the boy had picked
up a fallen apple in his orchard. Such is a crime which can never be
forgiven.
Even if the US imperialists were to directly intervene, we are sure
to emerge victorious in this war for the defence of freedom and
independence of the motherland.
All preconditions and possibilities are there for our triumph.
We have the Government of the Republic round which the people
are firmly rallied. All its policies have been in the interests of the
country and the people. For its devoted service to the country and the
people, it enjoys the unreserved support and confidence of the people,
who put their destiny in the hands of this Government. The guarantee
18
for our success lies in the fact that the Government and people are
closely united as one.
We have the People’s Army, the genuine armed forces of the
Korean people. It is fully prepared politically and ideologically and in
military technique, and is actively supported and loved by the people.
That is why the People’s Army can defeat any enemy.
We have a solid home front. Due to the tottering economy the
Syngman Rhee puppet clique are imposing unbearable burdens on the
people, and receiving millions of American dollars. In contrast, we
meet the demand for war materials, based on our own solid economy.
We are receiving active support and encouragement from the
peoples of the Soviet Union, China and other fraternal countries and
the peace-loving people the world over.
Success in a war does not come of its own accord, even though we
have all the factors for victory. To win this war all parties, social
organizations and people of different strata should rise as one,
irrespective of their party affiliations, political views and religious
beliefs. Under the banner of the united front, the Workers’ Party of
Korea, the Democratic Party of North Korea and the Chondoist
Chongu Party of North Korea closely together have made great
efforts to ensure success in democratic construction in the northern
half of Korea and build a prosperous, independent, sovereign and
democratic state in the whole Korea. In the grave situation prevailing
in our country today, all parties should further strengthen the united
front and powerfully mobilize all sections of the people in the
struggle to win the war.
What, then, should every political party do to ensure victory?
First, the demand of the front for manpower and materiel should
be filled in time.
This is one of the fundamental conditions to guarantee victory.
The front now needs replacements and reinforcements to the combat
forces of the People’s Army as well as plenty of ammunition,
clothing, footwear, provisions, medicine and other war supplies.
In order to meet the manpower requirements of the People’s Army,
19
every political party should encourage a large number of young and
middle-aged people to join up. At the same time, the required number
of technicians should be selected and sent to the front.
The front should be fully provided with necessary materiel. Each
and every political party should ensure that all the people are
mobilized to support the front, those with money giving money, and
those who are strong offering their energies, and that all fields and
units back up the front in every way. Hospitals should send medicine
to the front and take good care of the wounded. Farm villages should
provide sufficient vegetables, meat and other non-staple foodstuffs
and mountain areas should gather plenty of wild vegetables for the
front.
Munitions and other supplies should be transported to the front
promptly. Railways and roads may be damaged by enemy bombing.
In that case, the people should be mobilized to repair them
immediately so that there is no hitch in sending war materials and
other supplies to the front.
It is necessary to help the dependants of the People’s Army
soldiers well. People of all strata should be activated to support the
families of servicemen so that they are free from any inconvenience.
Second, the democratic base of the northern half of Korea should
be firmly defended.
This base is a reliable guarantee for victory in the war. That is why
the enemy is attempting to infiltrate spies, subversive elements and
saboteurs in large numbers to undermine our democratic base. Former
landlords and other remnants of the overthrown exploiter classes,
loafers and grumblers can also manoeuvre insidiously in collusion
with them. We should launch a vigorous struggle against the spies,
subversive elements and other reactionaries, give them no foothold
and expose and wipe them out promptly.
This struggle can only be successful when all the people
participate with heightened vigilance. All the political parties should
see to it that their members and the people of all strata actively help
the interior organs, keep a close watch on every movement of the
20
reactionaries and guard the factories and farm villages like the apple
of the eye. In this way, the spies, subverters and the survivors of the
overthrown exploiter classes will be prevented from acting with
impunity in factories, farm and fishing villages, residential quarters or
anywhere else.
Should the situation turn unfavourable at some time in the future,
some people might degenerate. Such degenerates, too, must be
combated without mercy.
Third, production should increase continuously.
At the outbreak of war some people become restless, instead of
doing their work zealously. This is not good. For victory everyone
should work harder and produce more.
In a war when artillery is fired it means so much ammunition
spent and when the troops advance it means so much materiel
consumed. So it would be impossible to satisfy the need of the front
without constantly increasing production.
Continuous stepping up of production is also imperative to
rehabilitate the ravaged economy of south Korea and save the south
Korean people from distress.
The northern and southern halves of Korea present a striking
contrast in the level of economic development and standards of
living.
In the north all branches of national economy are rapidly
recovering and developing as the days go by. Industrial production is
increasing by leaps and bounds, on a much Larger scale than in the
years before liberation. In the field of agriculture grain output is
increasing every year, thanks to the enthusiasm of the peasants, now
the owners of land, and to the material aid of the state. The rapid
development of national economy in all branches has resulted in
higher standards of the material and cultural life of the people.
On the contrary, the south Korean economy is devastated.
Industrial production is stagnant because of the shortage of coal and
electricity, and grain production, too, is falling due to lack of
fertilizer, irrigation, and farm implements. Occupying south Korea
21
and seizing its economic arteries, the US imperialists are rapaciously
plundering the raw material resources and agricultural products. As a
result of economic bankruptcy and the predatory policy of the US
imperialists, the living conditions of the south Korean people are
worse than in the years of Japanese imperialist occupation. Today
they are the victims of poverty and hunger. We cannot remain mere
onlookers of their misery. We are in duty bound to save them and
rehabilitate their devastated economy. We must save the suffering
people and rebuild the shattered economy as soon as possible.
All political parties should lead their members and the people of
all sections to work harder and produce more, display all their
creativity, by bringing home to them the tremendous significance of
ceaselessly increasing production in satisfying the material needs of
the front, raising the morale of the men and officers of the People’s
Army, improving the people’s living standards in the northern half of
Korea and also in saving the people in the south from destitution and
rehabilitating the ravaged south Korean economy. In this way the
Two-Year National Economic Flan will be fulfilled successfully even
in wartime conditions.
Workers, technicians and office employees in the northern half of
Korea should more than double their productivity so as to overfulfil
not only their own work assignments, but also those for the comrades
who are at the front.
Peasants should wage a vigorous struggle to carry out this year’s
plan of grain production. They should solve the questions of
manpower and draught animals by mutual cooperation and
self-reliance and obtain irrigation water by digging wells so as to
overcome droughts, instead of just depending on the state for them.
This year’s grain production plan should thus be fulfilled or
overfulfilled.
Fourth, information and ideological education should be
conducted efficiently among the people in all walks of life.
The foremost task is to give prompt and wide publicity to the
successes of the People’s Army. The Syngman Rhee puppet clique are
22
now making false propaganda on the radio that they have occupied
Haeju. If we do not inform the people of the victories of the People’s
Army quickly and widely, they can be deceived by the enemy’s false
propaganda and demoralized. All the political parties should use all
information and motivation media including publications to give wide
and timely publicity to the success of the People’s Army and thus
encourage powerfully the people in the rear in their struggle for
increased production.
It is also important to inspire the people with firm faith in victory.
In a war one may be confronted with complex and difficult situations
of various kinds, which are unpredictable. The people should be
educated to struggle stubbornly to overcome all difficulties in their
way and win the war ultimately.
Under the wartime conditions every political party should conduct
information in a coordinated manner. Some people are now doing this
work as they please under the pretext of freedom of speech. But this
is not the proper way for a political party to conduct information.
From now on, every party should organize and conduct information
in accordance with the orientation set by the Government of the
Republic.
Last, positive efforts should be made to strengthen the united front
The Workers’ Party of Korea, the Democratic Party of North
Korea and the Chondoist Chongu Party of North Korea are struggling
to attain the common aim-to build a prosperous, independent,
sovereign and democratic state and provide the people with a happy
life. Nevertheless, some local units of these parties still create friction
over trifles now and then. If this is not overcome quickly by every
political party, the mobilization of all patriotic forces for the triumph
of war may be hampered.
To strengthen the united front, all the units of each party should
regularly maintain close contacts and cooperate with each other. They
should also promptly expose and defeat the enemy’s manoeuvres to
destroy the united front. Just as the Hitlerites created bad blood
among the anti-fascist democratic forces by trickery during World
23
War II, the US imperialists and their minions, the Syngman Rhee
puppet clique, are scheming to drive wedges between the Workers’
Party of Korea, the Democratic Party of North Korea and the
Chondoist Chongu Party of North Korea. Every party should
categorically oppose these hostile manoeuvres and educate its
members properly lest they should be cheated by the enemy moves.
I am firmly convinced that the Workers’ Party of Korea, the
Democratic Party of North Korea and the Chondoist Chongu Party of
North Korea will strive for war victory, cooperating closely with one
another just as they have done in the past.
24
CONGRATULATORY MESSAGE
TO ALL THE PEOPLE OF KOREA,
THE PEOPLE’S ARMY, AND THE CITIZENS
OF SEOUL, ON THE OCCASION
OF THE LIBERATION OF SEOUL
June 28, 1950
Dear fellow countrymen,
Valiant officers and men of the People’s Army,
Dear citizens of Seoul,
At 11:30 today, June 28, the heroic People’s Army completely
liberated Seoul, the capital of our country, from the rule of the puppet
Syngman Rhee’s clique.
On this occasion, I, on behalf of the Government of the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, extend my congratulations to
all the Korean people and express my thanks to the officers and men
of the heroic People’s Army who have participated in the battle to
liberate Seoul.
I also offer my congratulations to the citizens of Seoul who have
been freed from the fascist oppression of the traitorous Syngman
Rhee clique.
All the Korean people should make every effort to actively help
the advancing People’s Amy so as to end as soon as possible the
fratricidal war ignited by the traitor Syngman Rhee’s band, and to
enable our country to resume its peaceful development.
The people and guerrillas behind enemy lines in the southern half
25
of the country must rise in revolt and generate fierce guerrilla activity
everywhere, in order to harass the enemy from behind, prevent the
US imperialist aggressors from shipping weapons and other
munitions into our land and actively assist the advancing People’s
Army.
The liberated citizens of Seoul should establish democratic order
at the earliest date, restore the people’s committees which were
dissolved by the reactionaries, set about rehabilitating the capital city
and actively help the People’s Army.
Long live the reunified Korean people!
Glory to the heroic People’s Army!
26
ON CONFERRING UNIT TITLES
Order No. 7 of the Supreme Commander
of the Korean People’s Army
July 5, 1950
The men and officers of the Third and Fourth Divisions and the
105th Ta nk Brigade of the Korean People’s Army took the offensive
and fought heroically in the battle to liberate Seoul, the country’s
capital city, and were the first to dash into Seoul. In commendation of
their meritorious feats, I award unit titles as follows:
1. The Third and Fourth Divisions of the KPA shall henceforth be
known as the Third and Fourth Seoul Divisions of the KPA
respectively.
2. The 105th Ta nk Brigade of the KPA shall be promoted to a ta nk
division and, at the same time, be entitled the 105th Seoul Ta nk
Division of the KPA.
3. Commanding officers of the Third and Fourth Seoul Divisions
and the 105th Seoul Ta nk Division shall recommend for the highest
state commendation, deserving officers, noncommissioned officers
and men of their units, who performed heroic military exploits in the
battle to liberate Seoul.
This order shall be conveyed to all the men and officers of the
KPA.
27
REPEL THE US IMPERIALIST INVASION!
Radio Address to All the Korean People
July 8, 1950
Dear fellow countrymen,
Dear brothers and sisters,
Valiant officers, noncommissioned officers and men of our
People’s Army,
Guerrillas operating in the south,
The US imperialists have launched an invasion against our country
and our people.
The US air force is barbarously bombing the towns and villages of
our country and massacring our peaceful people. US warships have
unlawfully intruded into our territorial waters and are bombarding
coastal towns and villages. US army troops, defiling our territory with
their bloodstained paws, have opened a front in the areas we have not
yet liberated in the southern part of our country and are resorting to
every brutality in an effort to check the southward advance of the
People’s Army.
Why are the US imperialists hurling their troops into our country?
Why are these rapacious bloodsuckers invading our sacred territory?
The Korean people have never encroached upon an inch of the
territory of the United States of America, nor have they ever infringed
upon its sovereignty in the slightest degree. Our people have never
committed any hostile act against the American people, nor have they
ever harmed the life and property of the peaceful inhabitants of the
28
United States of America. Why then do the US imperialists send their
troops into our territory, interfere militarily in the internal affairs of
our country, wantonly slaughter our people and soak our beautiful
land with blood?
Because the US imperialists, in their wild dream to dominate the
world, aim to turn our country into their permanent colony and our
people into slaves. To achieve this, they installed Syngman Rhee, the
sworn enemy of the Korean people, as ruler in the southern half of
our country and rigged up the south Korean puppet government. They
have also stubbornly blocked the peaceful reunification of the
country, the ardent desire of the Korean people, by every possible
means-intimidation, fraud, terrorism and massacre. They instigated
their lackeys, the traitorous Syngman Rhee clique, to unleash a
fratricidal war, and immediately launched an open invasion.
The US imperialists deny the legitimate rights of the Korean
people to freedom and independence, they do not consider our people
human beings. The US robbers think that the Korean people are
destined only to be colonial slaves filling the moneybags of the Wall
Street warmongers.
The US imperialist aggressors have turned our peaceful towns and
villages into military training grounds and are making targets of our
boys and girls, women and old folk in their air strafings and
bombings. Pyongyang, Nampho, Haeju, Wonsan, Hamhung and many
other cities and nearby villages north of the 38th Parallel, have
already undergone repeated, savage air raids. South of the parallel,
the liberated cities-Seoul, Chunchon, Kaesong, Uijongbu, Jumunjin,
Kangnung and others-and numerous villages are constantly being
subjected to vicious bombing by the US air force. The US imperialist
air bandits strafe village women as they are busy transplanting rice in
the paddy fields and shower bombs on innocent children.
The US imperialists are attempting to justify their invasion of our
country with what they call the “resolution” of the UN Security
Council on the Korean question. But this “resolution” was “adopted”
in violation of the United Nations Charter, without the participation
29
of either the Korean representative or the delegate of the Soviet
Union or China.
In spite of their false propaganda, the truth about the US
imperialists’ invasion of our country has been fully exposed to all
honest-minded people in the world. The fraudulent statement of the
US imperialists that US troops are only performing police functions
in Korea on behalf of the United Nations can deceive no one.
The United Nations Organization was not established so that the
US imperialists might use its flag for bombing our towns and villages
and slaughtering our people who aspire to freedom and independence.
While showering bombs on the Korean people, the US imperialists
claim that what they are doing is for the sake of peace, but there is no
one who will take their ravings for the truth.
Such lies and frauds were the infamous stock-in-trade of the Hitler
fascists and Japanese imperialists. It is known to the world that Hitler
said, “Whenever I speak of peace, I think of war.” The Japanese
imperialists tried to cover up their aggressive acts in the Far East with
the hypocritical statement that they were for peace in Asia. The
“imperial edict” issued by the Japanese Emperor on August 29, 1910,
stated that Japan was annexing Korea “in order to preserve lasting peace
in the East”, as though Korea had posed a threat to peace in the East.
The US imperialists, who are today making vicious attempts to
deprive our country of its independence and turn Korea into a colony,
have the effrontery to try to justify their armed intervention in the
internal affairs of our country and their barbarous bombing of our
peaceful inhabitants with the false statement that all this is intended
for peace, in the same manner as the Hitler fascists and Japanese
imperialists.
But no amount of falsehood and deception can cover up or justify
the bestial atrocities the US aggressors are peipetrating in Korea in
gross violation of all the norms of international law and the United
Nations Charter.
However massive an armed force they may mobilize in their
desperate invasion of our country, the US imperialists will never be
30
able to break the indomitable fighting spirit and patriotic stamina of
our people who have risen as one for the reunification and
independence of their country. The Korean people, united rock-firm
around the Workers’ Party of Korea, will defy death in fighting
against US imperialist aggression and will defend the freedom and
honour of their country to the end.
Young and inexperienced in battle as it is, our People’s Army has
already achieved great combat results in only a few days because of
its valour and patriotic devotion.
The People’s Army units that liberated our capital city of Seoul have
crossed the Han River, in the teeth of savage bombing by the US air
force, and broken through the enemy positions on the southern bank.
Pursuing the stampeding enemy troops, they have completely liberated
our country’s industrial areas, including the towns of Yongdungpho,
Puphyong and Inchon, and their environs. The brave soldiers of our
People’s Army have now liberated Suwon, which the enemy called his
second base, and are continuing their southward advance.
The People’s Army units fighting in the Chunchon and Hongchon
areas have liberated many towns, including Wonju, Hoengsong,
Ryoju and Jechon, and nearby villages and, in their continued
advance southward, have freed Chungju.
Our young air force is putting the enemy forces in disarray and
valiantly attacking the US planes. In fierce air battles, Korea’s gallant
war birds have downed or damaged scores of enemy fighters and
bombers, including B-29s, the so-called flying fortresses, thus
successfully covering our ground forces’ advance.
The tankmen, the pride of our army, have broken through the
enemy’s defence positions and given him no breathing space by
making decisive attacks, and sent him fleeing in disorder. These ta nk
units were the first to storm into our country’s capital, Seoul, in
pursuit of the enemy, and have now been awarded the title of honour.
“Seoul Tank Division”.
Our infantrymen and artillerymen are advancing without pause,
dealing heavy blows at enemy troops and combat equipment,
31
demonstrating perseverance on the march and resolution and bravery
in attack.
The young naval force of the Republic has also demonstrated valour
in fulfilling its combat missions. The sinking of a US cruiser by a
toipedo-boat unit in its valiant attack against overwhelming enemy
strength will go down as a brilliant feat in the history of our navy.
In their engagements with the ground forces of the US invaders,
our People’s Army units have inflicted on them their first serious
defeat.
Our results on the battle front show that the might of our people,
who have risen in struggle for the independence and freedom of the
country, is inexhaustible, and that the heroic People’s Army can and
will drive the US imperialist aggressors from our land.
Our People’s Army is provided with every condition for
completely smashing the enemy.
It is equipped with modem military technique.
It is not fighting for dollars or to subjugate another nation, as are
the hired American troops, but for the country’s independence and the
people’s freedom. It is the lofty spirit of patriotic devotion that
provides our People’s Army soldiers with an inexhaustible source of
courage and heroism.
The US aggressor forces are fighting on foreign soil, whereas our
People’s Army, surrounded by the love and support of all the people,
is fighting on its own territory. The US imperialist robbers are hated
by all our people and are meeting with retaliation from the people at
every step on account of their brutalities.
The US armed intervention in our country has roused the Korean
people’s utmost indignation and hatred for the US imperialist colonial
plunderers and their running dogs, the Syngman Rhee clique. Our
brave young people are flooding into the ra nk s of the People’s Army
to volunteer for the front. Already, more than 500,000 have come
forward. Volunteer and combined units are being formed across the
country from patriots who have risen to rout the invaders promptly in
whatever part of the country they may show up and to defend every
32
inch of the motherland with their blood.
In response to the heroic advance of the People’s Army, the
intrepid guerrillas are extending their areas of operation in North
Kyongsang, South Kyongsang and South Jolla Provinces and, with
the active support of the people, are launching vigorous struggles
against the US invaders and the traitorous Syngman Rhee gang.
In the areas liberated by the People’s Army, the people of all walks
of life are enthusiastically welcoming the dauntless officers and men
of the People’s Army who have rescued them from the police terror of
the traitorous Syngman Rhee clique. The liberated people are working
to restore the people’s committees dissolved by the reactionaries and
carry into effect the Constitution of the Democratic People’s Republic
of Korea which guarantees the people liberties and rights. The
peasants have embarked on agrarian reform, their centuries-old
desire, in accordance with the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme
People’s Assembly of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. All
land held by the US imperialists, the Syngman Rhee puppet
government and the Korean landlords and the traitors to the nation is
being confiscated and turned over to the peasants without charge.
The collapse of Syngman Rhee’s puppet army and reactionary
state machine has fully revealed the corruption of his puppet regime
which was forced upon the south Korean people at US imperialist
bayonet-point, and this has shown that the regime has no support
from the Korean people.
The victories of the People’s Army and the love and assistance the
people unanimously shower upon its officers and men prove the
superiority of the state and social system of the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea and the firm unity of the people. They also show
that all the Korean people fervently support the policy of the
Government of the Republic of repulsing the US imperialist invasion,
bringing about reunification and safeguarding national independence.
Our victories have been possible because the people in the northern
half of Korea have risen as one to defend the people’s democratic
system with their lives. This also clearly proves that the people in the
33
southern half support the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and
ardently desire that democratic reforms, which guarantee the political,
economic and cultural development of the country and improvements
in the people’s life, are carried out in south Korea, too.
Now that the Syngman Rhee clique, the faithful minion of US
imperialism, that has been carrying out US policies in south Korea,
has been defeated, the US bandits have become open in their
aggression against the Korean people. Had it not been for their direct
armed intervention, the fratricidal war ignited by their underlings
would have ended, our country would already have been reunified
and the people in the southern half completely liberated from the
police terror of US imperialism and the Syngman Rhee clique.
The US imperialist invasion of Korea is arousing the indignation
of people throughout the world. In many countries, including the
Soviet Union, China, France, Britain, Germany, Australia, Italy,
Pakistan and Japan, and even in the United States itself, popular
movements are under way against the US imperialist aggression
under the slogan “Hands Off Korea!” Our people’s just cause of
freedom and independence of the country is receiving warm support
and encouragement from freedom-loving people the world over.
Dear fellow countrymen, brothers and sisters,
The US imperialists, the vicious enemies of the Korean people,
have extended their bloodstained claws to our land in order to
subjugate our beloved country by force of arms. All the people must
unite as one and counter their armed intervention with decisive blows.
The US imperialists will realize how great and inexhaustible is the
united strength of the Korean people and how unbreakable is their
indomitable fighting will and their aspirations for freedom and
independence.
Under no circumstances will our people become colonial slaves
again.
We will never forgive the US imperialists for the crimes they have
committed on our soil; we will never pardon them for barbarously
bombing our peaceful towns and villages and slaughtering our
34
parents, brothers and sisters and innocent children. The brutal US
imperialist aggressors who have soaked our land with the blood of the
people will be cursed for all ages to come by the Korean people.
All Koreans who hold dear the honour of the country and the
future of the nation should come out as one man in the sacred
Fatherland Liberation War against the US imperialist aggression.
The names of the patriotic fighters who have done heroic deeds in
the battle for freedom and independence against the foreign invaders
will shine for ever in the history of our country.
All patriots,
Dear brothers and sisters,
The cause of winning freedom and independence for the country is
the cause of the Korean people themselves. All the people must
strengthen in every way assistance to our People’s Army as it
continues its southward advance, routing and wiping out the enemy
with courage and patriotic devotion in fierce battles against the US
imperialist invaders.
Let us mobilize all our forces and resources for aiding the People’s
Army and for victory. Let us produce more food, cloth, coal, steel,
and other goods and use them most economically in order quickly to
rout the US imperialist aggressors and the Syngman Rhee clique.
Let us strengthen labour discipline, achieve great feats of labour
and rapidly rehabilitate the industrial enterprises damaged by
bombing to increase wartime production. Let us maintain shaip
vigilance and make our rear an impregnable fortress.
Heroic men and women guerrillas,
People in the areas not yet liberated.
Wage guerrilla struggle against the US imperialist marauders and
their flunkeys in an all-people movement. Guerrillas, attack the
enemy more daringly, bravely and ruthlessly. Destroy roads, railways,
bridges and communication lines. Disrupt the aggressors’ troop
movements and their transportation of weapons and supplies. Raid
and destroy the enemy’s armories and munition depots and wipe out
enemy troops that come your way. Let fires start under the very feet
35
of the heinous enemy trampling the sacred soil of our country.
Your heroic struggle in the enemy’s rear will speed up the advance
of the People’s Army and bring nearer the great day of victory in the
Fatherland Liberation War.
Valiant men, noncommissioned officers and officers of the
People’s Army,
All the Korean people are following your great exploits in the battle
for the country and the people with profound affection and pride.
Annihilate the vicious aggressors more mercilessly and decisively.
Clear our land of the US imperialist invaders and their lackeys.
Officers of the People’s Army,
Skilfully apply the art of command of modern warfare. Boldly
lead your units on mobile operations and surround and wipe out the
enemy. Turn our army’s technical excellence to full account.
Infantrymen, tankmen, artillerymen, airmen and sailors of the
People’s Army,
You have already proved your valour and devotion in the battles to
rout the Syngman Rhee puppet troops. Be even braver and thoroughly
crush the aggressor forces of US imperialism that have invaded our
land. Make use of your weapons skilfully and make every shot count.
You should not for a moment forget that you are carrying out a
sacred duty for your country and your people. Emulate the noble
patriotic spirit of our ancestors, Generals Ulji Mun Dok and Kang
Kam Chan and Admiral Ri Sun Sin, who valiantly defended our
country against foreign aggressors, and render heroic service, every
one of you, in this sacred war for the liberation of the motherland.
Let us march forward to drive the US imperialists to the last man
from our soil, where generation after generation of our ancestors lie
buried and where our beloved younger generation is growing up. Let
us carry our just liberation struggle to victory so that the glorious flag
of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea will fly high over
Pusan, Mokpho and Mt. Halla on Jeju Island.
Forward to victory!
Long live the freedom and independence of Korea!
36
TO THE PEOPLE’S ARMY UNITS
WHICH PARTICIPATED IN THE COMBAT
TO LIBERATE TAEJON
Order of the Supreme Commander
of the Korean People’s Amy
July 23, 1950
At 12:00 on July 20,1950 the units of the People’s Army operating
in the direction of Taejon broke through a line of stubborn defence
put up by US army ground forces and the routed troops of the puppet
Syngman Rhee army and liberated Taejon, which was the enemy’s
strategically important military base and their political and
administrative centre.
In this battle the units of the People’s Army annihilated the 24th
US Army Division, wiped out the surviving forces of the First and
Seventh Divisions of the puppet Syngman Rhee army, took hundreds
of them prisoners and captured an enormous amount of booty.
Distinguished services were performed in this battle by Task Force
One of the Korean People’s Army, including its Fourth Seoul
Division, 105th Seoul Ta nk Division and the 18th Regiment of the
Fourth Seoul Division.
In the name of the Military Commission and the Supreme
Headquarters I express thanks to the men, noncommissioned officers,
officers and generals of the People’s Army who have won a brilliant
victory in the battle to liberate Taejon by displaying noble patriotism
and unparalleled heroism for the country and the people.
37
Glory to the officers and men of the heroic People’s Army who
fell in the battle for the independence and reunification of the
country!
Glory to the heroic People’s Army!
Forward to destroy and drive out the US imperialist occupiers
from our country!
38
ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS
RAISED BY MR. MANIAN,
CORRESPONDENT OF L’HUMANITE
July 27, 1950
Question: What is Your Excellency’s appraisal of the military situation
in Korea today after one month of the outbreak of the war?
Answer: The Korean people did not want the war. They strove for
the country’s peaceful reunification.
However, the US imperialists and their stooges, the puppet clique
of south Korea, unleashed a fratricidal war in our country. The
documents obtained by our People’s Army in Seoul confirm that the
war ignited by the puppet Syngman Rhee’s clique had been long
prepared under the direction of the US military mission.
It has become very clear now that the civil war in Korea was
necessary for the US imperialists not only to invent a pretext for their
invasion of Korea but also to carry out their policy of aggression in
other parts of Asia.
The war in Korea was necessary to realize the sinister scheme of
these war incendiaries; it was necessary to realize the plan for the
future militarization and fascistization of the USA and also to shackle
more closely to the US imperialists those nations dependent on the
USA.
By unleashing the war, the anti-people Syngman Rhee quislings
intend to carry out the orders of their US masters as well as bolster up
39
their ever-crumbling position.
In provoking this war, the US imperialists clearly underestimated
the strength of the Korean people. However, in the battles waged for a
month with the active support and assistance of the people and
guerrillas, our People’s Army has liberated three quarters of the whole
area of south Korea, annihilated the greater part of Syngman Rhee
puppet army and the US imperialist armed forces that had invaded
Korea, and it continues to advance bravely after routing the 24th US
Army Division.
Our People’s Army has been tempered in battles and is growing
stronger every day, accumulating combat experience.
Question: What do Your Excellency think of this war; whether it will
last long or end soon?
Answer: We do not think that victory will come easily. However,
the Korean people are firmly resolved to fight till they drive out all
the US imperialist invaders from our soil and achieve final victory.
Question: What are the factors that will enable the Korean People’s
Army to defeat the US imperialist armed aggressors?
Answer: The main factor that will contribute to its victory is that
our People’s Army is fighting the US imperialist aggressors and their
henchmen for a just cause, for the country’s freedom and
independence. The officers and men of the Korean People’s Army are
well aware of this. The Korean people who have suffered from
protracted colonial oppression do not want to become the slaves of
US imperialists.
The People’s Army is fighting with the ceaseless assistance and
support of all the Korean people as well as the support and
encouragement of the progressive people all over the world. All this
inspires our People’s Army to perform heroic exploits.
In addition, I should like to point out that our People’s Army is
40
well armed. These are the basic guarantees for the victory of our
People’s Army.
On the contrary, the US imperialist army carries on an unjust,
aggressive war to enslave the Korean people and subjugate them to
the US monopoly capitalists. This kind of war is, of course,
unnecessary to the American people and soldiers. Therefore, it is not
accidental that the US soldiers are fighting badly and surrendering to
the People’s Army in hundreds to be taken prisoners.
Question: Can the losses caused by US imperialist aggressors’ bombing
affect the outcome of the war? What do the Korean people think about the
enemy’s savageries in their country?
Answer: The US imperialist aggressors are indiscriminately
bombing Korean towns and villages, and brutally killing peaceful
inhabitants. The US imperialist colonialist marauders are flagrantly
violating the universally recognized international conventions on war.
They are continuously bombing peaceful towns where there have
never been any military installations; they are mercilessly raiding
inhabited areas, destroying houses, making our people homeless and
killing them at random.
The US imperialists cover up their savageries with the resolution
of the UN Security Council which they illegally got adopted in
violation of the United Nations Charter by putting their voting
machine in motion.
They are dyeing the UN flag with the Korean people’s blood. The
US imperialist invasion of Korea will add a disgraceful dirty page to
the history of the United Nations.
The US imperialists have revealed their true foul colours.
Formerly there were some naive people in our country who were
deceived by the honeyed words about American “humanitarianism”,
but today they have shed their illusions about US imperialism after
personally undergoing the bitter experiences of its “humanitarianism”
The US imperialist invaders will be unable to break the Korean
41
people’s strong will by their invasion. Their bestialities are adding
fuel to our Korean people’s hatred for the invaders. Their atrocities
are rather increasing than weakening the Korean people’s strength in
their struggle for freedom and independence.
Question: What is Your Excellency’s view on the worldwide movement
now going on to support the Korean people’s struggle against the invasion
by US imperialism?
Answer: All the progressive people are infuriated at the atrocities
committed by the US imperialist aggressors in Korea. Powerful
voices of thousands and millions of people shouting “US imperialists,
hands off Korea!” are ringing out from all countries.
This international solidarity inspires the Korean people and gives
them fresh strength in their fight for their country’s liberty and
independence.
Question: What is Your Excellency’s message to the French people?
Answer: I am very glad to avail myself of this opportunity to
offer, on behalf of all the Korean people, friendly greetings to the
freedom-loving people of France and express thanks to the French
people for giving encouragement to the Korean people in their battle
against the US imperialist invaders.
42
ON ORGANIZING THE WORK OF STUDYING
AND POPULARIZING COMBAT EXPERIENCE
IN THE FATHERLAND LIBERATION WAR
Order No. 085 of the Supreme Commander
of the Korean People’s Army
August 12, 1950
For the purpose of studying and popularizing combat experience
of the People’s Army in the Fatherland Liberation War, introducing it
in future combat actions and carrying forward the military traditions
of the Korean people, I order as follows:
1. All the commanders of units and combined units shall
responsibly keep all kinds of military documents (plans of operations,
combat orders, situation maps) and any others related to the
Fatherland Liberation War.
2. Among the documents mentioned above, those which are no
longer needed for military action shall be delivered, whenever
occasion offers, to the General Affairs Department of the General
Staff.
3. The Minister of National Defence shall organize and guide the
work of studying and popularizing war experience satisfactorily, and
shall use its material for the training of reserves and actions of
combat units.
4. All the commanders of combined units shall organize the job of
studying war experience by using their own staff.
5. All the commanders of combined units shall nominate from
43
among the senior officers in their staff, a competent and qualified
staff officer having profound knowledge and rich experience, who
will bear the responsibility for this work, while simultaneously
carrying out his main duties.
6. If, in case of need, a member of the War Experience Research
Department of the General Staff is dispatched to the front, the
commander of the unit concerned shall fully guarantee his work, let
him read the different kinds of military documents mentioned in this
order and arrange talks with the person who organized and led a
battle, if the required document was burnt or is insufficient.
7. The Front Commander shall inform the commanders of units
and combined units under him of this order, and report by August 30,
1950 on the execution of the order and the list of the personnel noted
in article 5 of this order.
44
LET US DESTROY THE US IMPERIALIST
AGGRESSORS AND ACHIEVE COMPLETE
LIBERATION OF THE COUNTRY
Order No. 82 of the Supreme Commander
of the Korean People’s Army
August 15, 1950
Men, commanding officers and cultural workers of army, navy and
air force of the People’s Army,
Men and women guerrillas,
Workers, peasants and intellectuals,
Brothers and sisters in the region yet to be liberated from the
tyranny of the US imperialist invaders and the clutches of the
traitorous Syngman Rhee clique,
On behalf of the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic
of Korea, I convey fervent greetings to you on the fifth anniversary of
the August 15 liberation.
Five years ago on this day the Japanese imperialist army was
defeated in Korea, and our country threw off its colonial yoke. The
Korean people won freedom and independence and set up a genuine
people’s government. Our country, however, was not able to develop
as a unified, independent state on democratic lines because of the plot
of the US imperialists.
The US imperialist colonial plunderers occupied the southern half
of our country and established there a fascist system propped up with
police forces and terrorist gangs, by bringing forward their faithful
45
stooge Syngman Rhee and his band of traitors, and kept our country
divided artificially, with the 38th Parallel as the demarcation line.
In the northern half of Korea economy and culture have developed
rapidly since liberation, and living standards of the people have
improved with each passing day. In the southern half, however, the
people are afflicted by the heavy yoke imposed upon them by the
“charitable” Americans, and production both in the industrial and
agricultural sectors is going down from day to day. Factories and
mills are closing down, unemployment is increasing, and the
conditions of workers and peasants are miserable as ever before.
Comrades, today the Korean people are celebrating the fifth
anniversary of the August 15 liberation in these trying conditions
when we are still fighting the just Fatherland Liberation War against
US imperialist interventionists who encroach upon the freedom and
independence of our country.
The enemy invaded the northern half of Korea treacherously in
flagrant violation of all international laws and conventions. They had
calculated that our People’s Army would lose the power of resistance
and break down at their initial attack and that the whole of Korea
would become an American colony-a base to launch a new war in the
Far East. But they were grossly mistaken. The US imperialist
aggressors failed to see the unbreakable strength of our People’s
Army and the determination of the Korean people to win freedom and
independence for the country at any cost.
The fortitude and bravery of our People’s Army, Security Forces
and men and women guerrillas foiled all attempts by the enemy. By
quickly assuming a counteroffensive the People’s Army dealt and is
dealing crushing blows at the enemy. Through battles to annihilate the
aggressors, the men and commanding officers of the People’s Army
have learnt how to destroy enemy troops and war materials and
equipment and foil his attempts and gained rich experience.
The US imperialist aggressor army, boastful of their being elite,
and puppet Syngman Rhee’s army are retreating, having suffered
heavy losses, under the attack of our People’s Army. By now 29 215
46
enemy soldiers have been killed and more than 40,000 taken prisoner.
The advancing People’s Army captured a large amount of war
supplies. The remaining forces of the defeated American aggressors
and puppet Syngman Rhee’s troops are now holding only about one
tenth of the total area of the southern half. The day is not far off when
the entire south will be liberated from the US imperialist
interventionists and the flag of freedom and independence fly over
the whole of Korea.
Comrades, the enemy has been defeated. But it has not yet been
wiped out. We still have to carry on fierce fight. The US imperialist
invaders will make frantic efforts to the last in an attempt to establish
colonial rule over our country. Their defeats will only add to their
desperation. In the final stage of the war, it will be a pitched battle.
We must never be complacent with the victories already achieved; we
must fight on bravely until we win ultimately.
The Korean people are firmly resolved to win the Fatherland
Liberation War. No aggressors can break their iron will. The enemy
has experienced the sharp blows of the People’s Army. The
aggressors will realize more clearly in the future the strength of the
Korean people fighting for peace, freedom and independence of their
country.
We should send more units of the People’s Army to the front and
organize our efforts better so as to win the ultimate victory in the war.
Industries should strive to redouble the speed of production.
Workers, peasants, intellectuals and all those on the home front
should work hard in better faith and with greater devotion to meet the
demands of the front and send more munitions and provisions to the
front. The railway workers should carry war materiel to the front on
time and continuously. The whole country should be put on a war
footing thoroughly, and everything should be subordinated to the
attainment of victory in the war.
Men, noncommissioned officers, commanding officers and
cultural workers of the People’s Army,
Men and women guerrillas,
47
The struggle to destroy the US imperialist armed interventionists
and the puppet Syngman Rhee clique, their stooges, and to drive the
imperialist invaders out of the country depends on your stoutness,
fortitude, military skill and your determination to carry out your
duties towards the country and the people.
We can and must force the US imperialist aggressors out of our
land as quickly as possible.
All conditions necessary for the People’s Army to attain this noble
objective are there. The point is that all the officers,
noncommissioned officers and men of our People’s
Army-machine-gunners, mortar men, ta nk crews, airmen, sailors and
all the rest of arms and services-should apply themselves to military
training, master their weapons, be efficient in the performance of their
jobs and acquire excellent tactics for annihilating the enemy. When
all soldiers of the People’s Army are thus prepared, they will be able
to wipe out the enemy absolutely.
Warmly congratulating all the men, noncommissioned officers and
officers of the Korean People’s Army on the occasion of the fifth
anniversary of the August 15 liberation, 1 order as follows:
1. Enlisted men, learn the use of rifles and automatic rifles well,
master your weapons, hit the enemy without a single miss, and
destroy the American invaders thoroughly!
2. Machine-gunners, artillerymen, mortar men, airmen and sailors,
master your weapons and equipment, perform your jobs efficiently
and thus crush the US imperialist aggressors! Take good care of
weapons and do not waste any ammunition!
Protect yourselves and your equipment from enemy bombing!
Do not throw away even a single captured weapon, a round of
ammunition and all other booty! Collect them and use them against
the enemy!
Logistical workers, keep supplying weapons, ammunition and
other war materiel to the front sufficiently, use the captured goods
well, protect military equipment from air raids, repair damaged
equipment promptly and send them to the front!
48
3. Every commanding officer, be an excellent commander capable
of leading his men properly. Be an expert in operations, capable of
coordinating actions skilfully between different units, arranging
proper reconnaissance of the enemy, developing staff work onto a
high level, and applying detouring tactics and other forms of
manoeuvres adroitly. In this way, prove that the Korean People’s
Army is a genuine army which serves the people faithfully, an army
capable of fulfilling creditably its noble mission of liberating the
country! Enforce an iron discipline and strict order in the array and
strengthen the system of undivided responsibility!
4. All the officers and men of army, navy and air force of the
Korean People’s Army, must advance bravely and finish off the
defeated forces of the US imperialist aggressors and the puppet army
of Syngman Rhee and liberate our country completely!
Deny the enemy even a breathing spell and prevent them from
building up defences on a new line! Throw them into confusion and
destroy their troops and military equipment by all means! Deliver a
final fatal blow at the enemy!
5. Men and women guerrillas, step up actions behind enemy lines,
destroying their means of communications, their headquarters and
combat equipment! Strike a mortal blow to the US imperialists who
have invaded our country!
Hail the fifth anniversary of the August 15 liberation!
Long live the Korean People’s Amy!
Long live our heroic men and women guerrillas!
Long live the freedom and independence of our country!
Make every effort in support of the heroic People’s Amy!
Death to the US imperialist invaders!
Forward to victory!
Everlasting honour to the officers and men of the People’s Amy
who fell in the battle for the freedom and independence of the
country!
49
EVERYTHING TO THE FRONT
Report at the Pyongyang Celebration
of the Fifth Anniversary of the August 15 Liberation
August 15, 1950
Fellow countrymen,
Brothers and sisters,
Five years have already elapsed since our country was liberated
from the yoke of a long-drawn-out colonial rule of Japanese
imperialism.
Today all the Korean people are celebrating the fifth anniversary
of the August 15 liberation while we are still fighting the righteous
Fatherland Liberation War against the US imperialists who have
invaded our country, and against the traitorous Syngman Rhee clique,
their stooges, and in defence of the independence, freedom and
honour of the country.
Valiant officers and men of our People’s Army, and men and
women guerrillas are honourably defending the independence and
freedom of the country by displaying peerless bravery and heroism in
the fierce battles against the US imperialist aggressor forces and
Syngman Rhee’s puppet army. They are liberating the southern half
of our country and the people there who have been downtrodden by
the US imperialist marauders and the traitor Syngman Rhee’s band,
their stooges.
After having reorganized all the work on the home front keeping
in mind the wartime conditions, our workers, peasants, office
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employees, intellectuals, patriotic entrepreneurs, merchants and
handicraftsmen are subordinating everything to the interests of the
frontline in order to ensure victory there. They are also launching a
movement to increase production with unparalleled patriotic devotion
and creativity. In this way, they are meeting the ever-increasing
demands of the frontline successfully.
Today when they are hailing the fifth anniversary of the August 15
liberation, both the officers and men of the People’s Army at the front
and the people at the rear are living and fighting with one mind and
purpose. They are doing this to annihilate the US imperialist
marauders and Syngman Rhee’s puppet army as quickly as possible,
sweep them off our land, and win an ultimate victory in the righteous
Fatherland Liberation War.
When we celebrate the fifth anniversary of the August 15
liberation under these circumstances, we are going to look back
briefly on the course that the north and the south of our country has
traversed in a span of five years, so as to understand the righteousness
of our cause better.
Brothers and sisters,
After the August 15 liberation, the Korean people were confronted
with the task of building a unified, independent and democratic state
which is rich and strong by developing the country on democratic
principles, by quickly removing the miseries, which are the
aftereffects of the many years of Japanese imperialist rule, and by
advancing industry, agriculture and culture.
In order to implement this important task, it was necessary to
consolidate the people’s committees set up by the initiative of the
people in all parts of Korea immediately after liberation, ensure
freedom of speech, press and assembly, form and consolidate
democratic social organizations such as the trade unions, Peasants’
Union, Democratic Youth League and Women’s Union, carry out the
agrarian reform, nationalize the mills, factories, railways, mines and
banks, owned by the Japanese imperialists and traitors to the nation,
rehabilitate the damaged factories and other enterprises quickly, raise
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the living standards and cultural levels of the people, train cadres for
state administration, establish the democratic educational system and
expand and strengthen educational institutions and establish new
ones.
The Korean people, however, were able to carry out this task only
in north Korea, and not in south Korea where the US troops were
stationed. Immediately after liberation, north Korea was provided
with every facility to enable the Korean people to rehabilitate and
develop the country into an independent state by their own efforts and
to rebuild it on a democratic basis.
In the northern half of Korea, a magnificent building up of
democracy has been undertaken in the five years since liberation. The
people’s committees, the organs of genuine people’s power, have
been consolidated and developed through a number of democratic
elections. Democratic reforms including the agrarian reform and
nationalization of industries have been carried out, and thousands and
thousands of cadres trained.
As a result of this magnificent building up of democracy, the
national economy has been rehabilitated and developed quickly, the
people’s material and cultural standards have improved noticeably,
and national culture and art has advanced rapidly.
Already in 1949 the industrial output in the northern half of Korea
was 3.5 times greater than that in 1946 and the production of
machines increased by 146.9 per cent compared with the figure in
1944.
Great success has also been registered in agriculture since the
agrarian reform. The sown area has expanded considerably, and the
total amount of crop harvest in 1949 grew by 9.8 per cent over the
figure in 1944. As a result, the northern half of Korea has been turned
from an area short of food into an area capable of meeting its own
demand for food.
As for education, in the years between 1944 and 1949 the number
of primary schools increased by 2.8 times, their enrolments by 1.7
times; junior and senior middle schools by 22 times, their enrolments
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by 23 times; various specialized schools by 12 times, and their
enrolments by 10 times. In particular, 15 institutions of higher
learning have been established during the five years, although there
was none before liberation.
Brothers and sisters,
These brief figures give a clear idea of the magnificent building up
of democracy in the northern half of Korea in the five years since
liberation. As you can see, the success achieved by the Korean people
in the north during this short period is enormous.
The developments in the southern half of Korea during the same
period, however, show a striking contrast. Since the first day of its
presence in the south of our country, US imperialism has invariably
implemented its premeditated plan of colonizing our country,
enslaving our people and turning our land into its base of aggression
in the Far East
During the past five years, the US imperialists established a police
system of terrorism in the southern half of Korea by getting together
the pro-Japanese elements, national betrayers and all other
reactionaries. They put down all the patriotic and democratic political
parties and social organizations, drove them underground and got
hundreds of thousands of fine patriots jailed and slaughtered at the
hands of the Syngman Rhee clique, their stooges.
The economy in the southern half of our country fell into the grip
of US imperialism and the national industry was devastated in the
half decade of its rule. In the first half of 1949 the number of
enterprises was 36 per cent of the figure in 1943 under Japanese
imperialist rule, and production in the machine-building industry in
particular was only five per cent.
Agriculture in the south has been ruined in the five-year period
since liberation. In 1949 the cultivated area was 55 per cent of the
figure before liberation, and the crop yields were smaller by five
million sok. The peasants have been impoverished greatly because of
the law for forced delivery of grain and the law of its purchase.
With an eye to enslaving the Korean people, the US imperialists
53
have introduced colonial slave education and are following the policy
of obliterating our nation’s cultural tradition and encouraging a
decadent “Yankee culture”.
The US imperialists egged on the traitor Syngman Rhee’s clique to
set up a fascist system propped up with military and police forces in
the southern half of our country and pursued the policy of wiping out
all patriotic and democratic forces.
The war brought to light the fact that the traitorous Syngman Rhee
clique had reduced the southern half of our country to a living hell of
torture and massacre. In Jeju Island alone the traitors butchered more
than 37,000 persons and burnt down hundreds of villages.
The war revealed the truth that thousands and thousands of people
had been massacred by the traitorous clique in Inchon, Suwon,
Taejon, Chungju, Kongju, Kangnung and other places. It also
revealed their crime of having devastated hundreds of villages in the
past.
All this was the colonial enslavement policy followed by the US
imperialists against our country in the south during the past five
years. It was a policy meant to divide our nation and unleash a civil
war.
This is a brief review of the political and economic situation in the
southern half of our country during the five years since the August 15
liberation.
Although the people in north and south Korea have been living for
five years under different conditions, they have had only one aim and
aspiration. Our land is one and so is our nation. That is why all the
Korean people both in the north and the south have kept on struggling
against US imperialism and the Syngman Rhee clique and for the
reunification, independence and democratization of the country in the
past five years.
But the US imperialists and the traitorous Syngman Rhee clique
have kindled flames of war in our country.
Brothers and sisters,
The Korean people do not want this war. The patriotic, democratic
54
forces in this land have taken every possible step to tirelessly struggle
for a peaceful reunification of the country.
Under the direct manipulation of US imperialism, however, the
traitorous Syngman Rhee clique provoked a fratricidal war on last
June 25 by launching a surprise invasion on the area north of the 38th
Parallel. With an aim to realize their predatory design of aggression
on Korea, the US imperialists are flagrantly interfering in our internal
affairs and are invading our land and waters by mobilizing their army,
navy and air force which have bean kept in readiness.
The US imperialists and the traitor Syngman Rhee’s clique have
been meticulously preparing for this war for a long time.
This is clear from the fact that the puppet Syngman Rhee’s clique,
having massed huge forces along the 38th Parallel long before the
outbreak of the war, frequently provoked clashes on this line and
“purged the rear” in an attempt to incite war. Furthermore, a number
of confidential documents seized by the People’s Army in Seoul and
the statements of the “VIPs” of the puppet regime and the “members
of the National Assembly”, who surrendered, prove that the war was
provoked by the traitor Syngman Rhee’s clique after a long
preparation under the direct instruction of the US imperialists and
under the direct supervision of the US military mission in Seoul.
What, then, is the aim of the traitorous Syngman Rhee clique and
the US imperialists in this war?
By means of this war the traitorous Syngman Rhee clique aims to
extend their anti-people reactionary system of police rule to the north
in an attempt to wipe out the people’s democratic system established
there, kill the fine sons and daughters of our country en masse,
deprive the Korean people of the democratic rights and freedom
which they have won, nullify all the results of the democratic reform s
and bolster up their crumbling foothold.
The traitorous Syngman Rheeites have provoked the war in order
to implement the instructions of their master, the United States, to
make our country its colony, and the Korean people its slaves.
Why are the US imperialists invading our country, resorting to
55
violent military intervention in the internal affairs of our country,
bombing our peaceful towns and villages and slaughtering our
brothers and sisters?
Dreaming of world domination, they are trying to turn our country
into their permanent colony and to make it a strategic military base
for Asian aggression and enslave our people. They not only refuse to
recognize the Korean people’s right to liberty and independence, but
do not regard the Koreans as human beings. They believe that the
Korean people are destined to a life of slavery. For this reason, ever
since the day our country was liberated from the shackles of Japanese
imperialist rule, they have ignored the cherished desire of the Korean
people to build an independent and democratic state and obstructed
its realization in every way.
As the course of the war shows, the US imperialists got the traitor
Syngman Rhee and his band to provoke a fratricidal war to find an
excuse for their armed intervention in our country. They are even
manoeuvring to put into effect their plot of carrying out aggression on
other parts of Asia. By launching an invasion on our country, they are
implementing the underhanded plan of aggression, the plan of
militarizing and fascistizing their own country and further
subjugating their dependent countries.
The US imperialists are loudly advertising their overt act of
aggression against our country as a “police action” based on the
“resolution” of the UN Security Council. This will not deceive even a
child in arms. They are trying to cloak their act of aggression with the
Security Council “resolution” adopted illegally, without the
participation of the representatives of the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea, and of the Soviet Union and the People’s
Republic of China, the two permanent member nations of the Security
Council.
The aim of the US imperialist invasion on Korea, however, is only
too clear to the progressive people the world over. No one is going to
be taken in by the noisy statement of the United States warmongers
that the American troops are only performing “police duties” in
56
Korea, in the name of the United Nations.
The US imperialists’ invasion on Korea constitutes a gross
violation of the UN Charter and the international law. The UN was
established for the sake of a lasting world peace and security and not
to serve the aggressive aim of the US imperialists to invade the
territory of other countries, trample upon their independence and
freedom and impose the yoke of colonial slavery upon small and
weak nations. The UN was not set up as an instrument of aggression
to help the US imperialist invaders to interfere in the internal affairs
of our country by force of arms. It was not set up to bomb our
peaceful towns and villages indiscriminately, destroy the industrial
establishments built with the sweat of their brows by the Korean
people, kill women and other peaceful inhabitants by showering
bombs over their heads nor to make colonial slaves of our nation, by
mobilizing their army, navy and air force.
Nevertheless, the American marauders are peipetrating piratic
armed intervention in our country under the cloak of the “United
Nations forces” behind the UN flag.
Air force units of the American marauders are bombing Nampho,
Pyongyang, Wonsan, Hungnam and many other towns and villages in
the northern half of Korea barbarously and indiscriminately every
day. They are destroying the industrial enterprises, cultural
institutions and dwelling houses which have been rehabilitated and
constructed by the people in the north despite all the difficulties and
obstacles during the five years since liberation. They are slaughtering
peaceful inhabitants, men and women, young and old, without
discrimination.
Airplanes of the American marauders are daily bombing Seoul and
many other towns and villages in the southern half of Korea, and their
fleets are carrying out brutal naval bombardments on coastal towns
and areas.
These barbaric and indiscriminate bombings have already reduced
to ashes Tongduchon, Uijongbu, Suwon, Taejon, Chungju, Kongju,
Kangnung, Jumunjin and many other towns, farming and fishing
57
villages in the south. Innumerable people have been killed and
thousands and thousands of peaceful inhabitants have been deprived
of their homes.
By carrying out these brutal bombings and bombardments, the US
air and naval forces are seeking to destroy our industry, massacre our
people and plunge the Korean people into destitution. That is why
they attack, under prearranged plans, industrial enterprises which are
peaceful and which have nothing to do with military targets and have
never produced munitions. They indiscriminately bomb densely
inhabited areas and even hurl bombs over the heads of weeding
peasants, women doing washing on riversides, school children in
class and peaceful inhabitants going to take shelter.
MacArthur’s headquarters braggingly reports the inhumane air
raids in which they drop thousands of tons of bombs over our
peaceful towns and villages and over the heads of peaceful
inhabitants every day, shamelessly describing them as “good deeds”
in favour of the Korean people.
These atrocities of the US imperialists have provoked all the
Korean people to indignation and excited them to rise in the
Fatherland Liberation War to defend the independence, liberty and
honour of the country at the cost of their lives.
In provoking the war in Korea, they have underestimated the
source of the inexhaustible strength of our people and the might of
our People’s Army backed up and encouraged by all the Korean
people.
During the one month and a half since it assumed a
counteroffensive under the support of the Korean people, our People’s
Army has liberated wide areas covering nine-tenths of the total area
of south Korea and 92 per cent of its total population.
By waging fierce battles against the enemy, our heroic People’s
Army has liberated whole areas of the Ongjin Peninsula, south
Yonbaek, Kyonggi Province, North and South Chungchong
Provinces, North and South Jolla Provinces and South Kangwon
Province and parts of North and South Kyongsang Provinces. Now
58
audacious battles are being fought to liberate the rest of these two
provinces. In these battles our heroic People’s Army killed or
wounded nearly 50,000 hostile troops and captured over 40,000
enemy soldiers and a huge amount of booty.
Our People’s Army crushed the main forces of puppet Syngman
Rhee’s army a long time ago and is dealing heavy blows at the US
ground forces including the 24th US Army Division, naval fleets and
air forces, in daring and successful battles to wipe out the enemy
forces from our land.
Our People’s Army has been toughened in battles. Having
accumulated a wealth of combat experience, it has grown stronger
than ever before.
Our units of different arms have demonstrated peerless bravery,
heroism and a spirit of patriotic devotion in the successive offensive
and fierce counteroffensive battles to wipe out the enemy.
Our courageous and honourable infantrymen, tank crews and
artillerymen have proved their strength, fortitude, courage and noble
fighting spirit in the river-crossing operations to break through enemy
defence lines on the Rimjin, Han, Kum, and Raktong, and in the
continued attack and pursuit of the enemy across steep mountains and
rugged passes and in assaults. The enemy is terrified and destroyed by
the shock actions of our infantry and tanks.
Our young air and naval forces are bravely fighting the
preponderant enemy, shooting down many of their planes and
defending our coasts from their attacking fleets.
Great, indeed, is the bravery, heroism and patriotic devotion
displayed by the soldiers of our People’s Army in the just Fatherland
Liberation War to defend the independence, freedom and honour of
the country. A large number of officers and men of the People’s Army
have been awarded the title of Hero, the highest honour accorded to a
citizen of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and tens of
thousands of them have been honoured with distinguished service
medals and decorations. All the Korean people, therefore,
unquestioningly trust and love the People’s Army.
59
What is the reason for the fledgling People’s Army to win a
victory over the US imperialist invaders and puppet Syngman Rhee’s
army?
The reason is first of all that all the officers and men of the
People’s Army know well for what and whom they are fighting. The
People’s Army is not fighting for dollars or to subjugate other nations
like the butchers on the American payroll are. They are fighting for
the independence and freedom of their own country against the US
aggressors and their stooges.
For 36 years the Korean people suffered bitterly under the
long-drawn-out colonial rule of Japanese imperialism. For five years
now since liberation they have directly benefited from the successful
democratic reforms and enjoy genuine rights and freedom in the
northern half of Korea. They do not want to suffer again the lot of
colonial slavery and yield the results of their democratic reforms to
anyone else.
The officers and men of the People’s Army are well aware that the
war against the US imperialist invaders and the puppet Syngman
Rhee’s clique is a war in which the independence, freedom and
honour of the country must be defended with their lives; a war which
will decide the destiny of our nation and the future of our posterity.
For this reason, they feel in their hearts an ardent love for their
country and a burning hatred for the enemy, and this is the
inexhaustible source of the bravery and heroism which they display in
battles.
The People’s Army is victorious also because it commands the
support and encouragement of all the Korean people. Flistory clearly
shows that an army enjoying the support and encouragement of the
people has never suffered defeat. All the Korean population, who
have turned out as one against US imperialist invasion, back up the
People’s Army with all their energies, talents and resources.
Our People’s Aimy has a powerful home front behind it. More
than 800,000 youths in the northern half of Korea are volunteering for
the People’s Army, and 400,000 workers, peasants, youths and
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students in the southern half have expressed their readiness to join the
Volunteers Corps and guerrillas.
Everywhere in the south, the liberated people are enthusiastically
welcoming the advancing People’s Army. They are repairing roads
and bridges and carrying food and munitions to help the People’s
Army despite the enemy bombing.
The valiant guerrillas in the south have been fighting bravely even
at the risk of their lives for the independence and liberty of the
country and for the rights of the people. In response to the advancing
People’s Army, they are actively launching guerrilla action behind
enemy lines.
These facts speak eloquently for the way all the Korean people are
supporting and encouraging the People’s Army, their own armed
forces, and where the source of the strength of this army lies.
The triumph of the People’s Army is also due to the fact that our
honourable People’s Army is solidly equipped with advanced military
science and technology and is using modem technical equipment
skilfully.
The People’s Army also owes its victory to the international
sympathy and support for the Korean people from the Soviet Union
and People’s Democracies including the People’s Republic of China
and also from freedom-loving people the world over. Such
international sympathy and support is an added encouragement to our
people who have turned out as one in the righteous struggle to defend
the independence, freedom and honour of the country at the risk of
their lives, and inspires us with boundless strength and confidence in
victory.
In contrast, the US imperialist aggressor troops which have
launched an invasion against our country and people are being
strongly condemned by the freedom-loving people of the whole
world, and are certainly not receiving international support or
encouragement.
What are the soldiers paid by the US imperialists fighting for in
this war? They are fighting in a foreign land, far away from their
61
homeland, for dollars and in the interests of the US imperialists who
are attempting to subjugate our country.
It is only natural, therefore, that the American aggressor troops
cannot receive support both from their own people and from the
progressive people the world over. Today hundreds of millions of
people all over the world are raising their voices louder and louder in
the cry, “US imperialists, hands off Korea!” and these voices are
growing louder even in the United States.
Failing to win support from their own people and the world’s
progressive people, the US invaders will inevitably fail in the
predatory war of aggression against our country and people; the
Korean people will triumph without fail in their righteous war of
defending the independence, freedom and honour of their country.
Brothers and sisters, victory, however, does not come by itself. It
must be won through a fierce struggle against the enemy by
overcoming all sorts of difficulties and obstacles. In order to win this
just war against the US imperialist invaders and the traitor Syngman
Rhee’s clique, their stooges, the battle and home fronts must unite as
one, and the victory already achieved must be followed up by
operations for fresh victories.
The success scored by our heroic People’s Army at the front is
tremendous. But this does not mean that we have won an ultimate
victory nor does it imply that the US invaders will meekly withdraw
from our country.
History knows of no instance in which imperialist marauders have
withdrawn before they are hit decisively; it shows that aggressors will
grow more frantic as their dirty designs are frustrated. Pressed into a
narrow zone in North and South Kyongsang Provinces after a series
of defeats by the advancing heroic People’s Army, the surviving
forces of the US aggressors and the Syngman Rhee puppet army are
becoming more desperate in their efforts to save themselves from an
impending total destruction.
Consequently, the war is becoming fiercer and grimmer as it
reaches the final stage where the enemy is to be driven out from their
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last foothold in our land. The heroic People’s Army and all the people
must redouble their efforts and mobilize all their forces to wipe out
the enemy and sweep them off our country.
Combined forces and small units of the valiant People’s Army
must annihilate the enemy and rush forward to Pusan and Jinhae,
denying the enemy breathing time and preventing them from bringing
in fresh reinforcements.
Unit commanders and other officers of our People’s Army should
further improve their military leadership. They should control their
units better, command them swiftly and flexibly, and conduct bold
military operations to destroy the enemy by encircling them, and
display ingenuities in battles.
The brave soldiers of the People’s Army should have a better
command of their weapons, use them skilfully, and take good care of
them. They should refrain from wasting ammunition, and instead
should actively utilize captured enemy weapons and ammunition to
cause the enemy’s destruction. They should protect themselves, their
unit weapons and equipment from enemy bombing, and improve their
marksmanship to kill more enemies. They should display bravery,
patriotic devotion and an offensive spirit in battles.
Logistics workers should send weapons, ammunition and other
munitions to the front promptly and in time; they should carefully
protect war supplies from enemy air raids, sort out the booty
accurately for utilization, and quickly repair damaged equipment and
send it to the frontline.
The people in the rear must step up support for the valiant
People’s Army soldiers who are bravely fighting the enemy
self-sacrificingly to end the war quickly and win a final victory.
The people in the rear should mobilize all resources and goods in
keeping with the demands at the front and subordinate all home-front
efforts to the interests of the frontline. They should launch a
movement to economize on raw materials and other goods and
foodstuffs and increase production so as to send more munitions and
other goods including provisions to the front.
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All efforts on the home front should be directed to ensuring
victory at the front, under the slogans: “Everything to the front!” and
“Everything for victory in the war!”
The workers in the rear should increase the production of coal,
steel, weapons and other munitions. Those mills and factories which
have been bombed by the enemy should be quickly rebuilt for prompt
operation, and production should be speeded up to meet the demands
of the front. They should also defend their mills and factories from
bombing.
Peasants should protect their harvests, unafraid of air raids, and
develop a campaign for increased crop yields more vigorously in
order to supply more food grain to the front and rear and provide
industry with raw materials satisfactorily.
The peasants in the liberated areas should successfully carry out
an agrarian reform on the principle of confiscation without
compensation and free distribution. They should cultivate the land
well as it comes under their ownership and ensure high crop yields by
weeding and reaping in season. They should help the People’s Army
to advance without a hitch by quickly repairing roads and bridges.
The workers and office employees in the south should quickly
rehabilitate industrial enterprises, railways, bridges, transport and
communications establishments damaged by the enemy and thus meet
the demands of the front and also ensure that all work on the home
front is carried out promptly.
The people in the south who have been liberated thanks to the
heroic struggle of the People’s Army must know that they are masters
of the country, and not slaves suffering from oppression and
suppression as in the days of Syngman Rhee’s rule.
The people in the south should restore everywhere the people’s
committees, their own organs of power; they should all participate in
the elections to the people’s committees and elect their fine
representatives. In this way, the people’s committees will be brought
in to rehabilitate the ravaged economy in the south quickly, stabilize
the lives of the impoverished people, develop culture and give active
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support to the advancing People’s Army.
The guerrillas operating behind the enemy line should step up
their activities in response to the advance of the People’s Army. They
must cut off the enemy’s supply route, attack them from behind, and
destroy their port facilities so as to obstruct the landing of fresh forces
of the US invaders. They must bum down munition depots and raid
enemy headquarters.
The enemy is vicious, cunning and crafty. All the people on the
home front should keep military secrets strictly, and defend with their
lives their workplaces, farm villages and hometowns from enemy
encroachment. Furthermore, vigilance against the enemy should be
sharpened. They should mercilessly fight those who spread
misleading rumours, shirkers and subversive elements and detect and
punish spies and secret agents in time.
All the people should strive to bring our just struggle for national
independence, liberty and honour to an ultimate victory quickly.
Victory will ultimately come to the Korean people who have risen
in this just war. Let us march forward bravely to annihilate the US
imperialist invaders and the traitorous Syngman Rhee clique, their
stooges, as soon as possible and win a complete victory.
Hail the fifth anniversary of the August 15 liberation of our
country from the long-drawn-out colonial rule of Japanese
imperialism!
Glory to the Korean people and the heroic People’s Army, their
armed forces, who are fighting the righteous Fatherland Liberation
War in defence of the independence, liberty and honour of the country
against the US imperialist invaders and the traitor Syngman Rhee’s
clique!
Glory to the officers and men of the heroic People’s Army and the
men and women guerrillas who laid down their lives in the righteous
Fatherland Liberation War to defend the independence and freedom
and honour of the country!
Long live the united Korean people!
Long live the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea!
65
LET US DEFEND THE HOME
FRONT SOLIDLY
Speech at the Consultative Meeting of Senior Cadres
of the Ministries of the Interior and National Defence,
the Chairmen of Provincial People’s Committees
and the Chiefs of Provincial Interior Departments
August 29, 1950
Comrades,
At today’s meeting I would like to speak about a few problems
arising in defending the home front solidly.
Hard hit by our People’s Army, now on the counteroffensive, the
US imperialist aggressors have massed their army, navy and air force
on the Korean front. And not satisfied with this, they are bringing even
the mercenaries of their satellite countries. The aggressors are
attempting to land on the east and west coasts in order to retrieve their
defeat and are barbarously bombing and bombarding our peaceful
towns and villages without discrimination by sending a large number
of air and naval craft. But whatever the means and methods, they will
not be able to defeat the Korean people and the People’s Army that are
closely united around our Party and the Government of the Republic.
The US imperialists are engaged in an aggressive war to turn our
country into their colony, while we are fighting a just war against the
American imperialist aggressors and their stooges, the Syngman Rhee
clique, in order to liberate our country. For this reason, our people and
People’s Army are fighting with peerless courage and patriotic
66
devotion both at the front and in the rear, refusing to be brought under
the yoke of colonial slavery by the American imperialists. There is no
doubt that our people who are fighting for the freedom and
independence of the country will be crowned with ultimate success.
But we must not just imagine that we shall win the war easily.
Although suffering one defeat after another, confronted with the raging
waves of the advancing People’s Army, the enemy is making desperate
efforts to retrieve his defeats, refusing to withdraw meekly. Driven
back to the Raktong River line, the enemy is trying to launch a
counteroffensive in various ways, entrenching himself in new
defensive positions. Our people and People’s Army, therefore, should
not rest content with the success already achieved; they must strive to
deliver heavier blows at the enemy and win a final victory.
One of our important tasks at present is to defend the home front
solidly.
To this end, first of all, an all-people coastal defence system should
be established thoroughly.
The enemy is attempting to land large forces on the east and west
coasts. In this situation it would be impossible to defend our coastlines
firmly only with the efforts of the interior servicemen and self-defence
corps members.
We must not yield an inch to the enemy or permit him to land on our
coast. If every province organizes all its people actively for coastal
defence, it will be able to prevent the enemy from landing.
In the years of the anti-Japanese armed struggle, we were able to
defend the guerrilla base from the enemy’s “punitive” attack for many
years because we had established an all-people defence system
thoroughly. At that time we were short of rifles and many other things.
Nevertheless, all the people in the guerrilla base, men and women,
young and old, rose to the occasion and fought the enemy in solid unity
with the guerrillas so that they could repel the attack by large forces of
the Japanese imperialists and crack down on the enemy’s secret agents
who had penetrated into the guerrilla base. This experience shows that
if we mobilize all the people, we shall be able to destroy the enemy, no
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matter how large a force he may land on our coast.
At present, the People’s Army is in the first line of defence on the
east and west coasts. The interior establishment must undertake the
responsibility to organize the defence of the second line and of the gaps
in the People’s Army dispositions.
What is important in the organization of the second-line defence is
to form the main forces with the interior servicemen and members of
self-defence coips and properly integrate into them the efforts of the
people. The self-defence coips must be composed of fine people and
they should be provided with weapons. If there are not enough rifles to
equip them all, at least spears should be supplied to them so that they
can be ready to fight the enemy. Every province should produce hand
grenades and the like on its own with which to arm the self-defence
coips.
Meanwhile, strong defensive positions should be built on the
coastal areas of possible enemy invasion. Trenches should be dug
along coastlines, and pillboxes and bunkers built on vantage points to
prevent enemy approach to the coast. At the same time, various kinds
of barriers should be set up in large numbers with an active use of local
materials. This is important. Such barriers will check and delay enemy
landing and facilitate the mopping up of invading troops.
Inchon, Cho Island, Nampho, Anju, Cholsan and Tasa Island on the
west coast and Wonsan, Hamhung, Sinpho and the like on the east
coast are the spots of probable hostile landing. So special efforts
should be directed to the organization of an effective defence of these
coastal areas.
The chiefs of the provincial interior departments must take direct
responsibility to plan coastal defence and quickly build defence works
by mobilizing the self-defence corps and the local people. It would be a
good idea for the Ministry of National Defence to give coordinated
technical guidance to the construction of defences. If instructions are
given by different people, each in his own way, it will only create
confusion.
For an efficient coastal defence, communication over the command
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network must be ensured. All the local means of communication
should be integrated to this end.
The next thing to do to defend the home front solidly is to take
effective anti-aircraft measures.
The US imperialist aggressors’ atrocious bombing of our towns,
farm and fishing villages is intensifying as the days go by. By such
barbarous indiscriminate bombing the enemy is destroying our mills
and factories, railways and bridges, and killing our parents and
brothers in cold blood. This is really heartrending.
The workers of the people’s government bodies and the interior
establishment should take thoroughgoing anti-aircraft measures by
mobilizing the broad masses and thus prevent the loss of the state and
public wealth and the lives and property of the people from the attack
by the US imperialist air pirates.
An important step to avoid loss from enemy bombing is to take
adequate measures for shelter. Bomb-shelters should be prepared in
places where many people gather, for instance, theatres, cinemas and
markets and also around each dwelling house and at the edges of the
fields in the countryside, to say nothing of all institutions, mills and
factories. This can prevent loss from enemy bombing. Nevertheless, in
some localities they are not only neglecting the digging of
bomb-shelters, but are allowing even the existing ones to become
unusable due to lack of proper care. Local government bodies and
interior organs should guide and control all institutions, enterprises and
homes to build durable bomb-shelters and take good care of them at all
times.
Durable shelters for automobiles, too, should be built. The existing
ones are very perfunctory. They have been built so carelessly on
roadsides that vehicles in them are damaged by the strafing of passing
enemy aircraft. Work should not be done in such a perfunctory manner.
Strong shelters for automobiles should be built in ravines or by
hillsides, a little away from the road, and they should be camouflaged
carefully to avoid being discovered and damaged by enemy aircraft.
Air-raid watch and warning system should be meticulously
69
organized. If in this way an early air-raid warning signal is given when
the approaching enemy aircraft is at a long distance, people can take
shelter and save themselves. At present, air-raid watch and warning
system are not properly organized so that the alarm goes when enemy
aircraft is overhead. As a result, people get no time to take shelter and
suffer casualties. So the organization of air-raid precautions and the
warning system should be reexamined and appropriate measures taken.
Watchers should be posted at proper intervals along major roads to
warn pedestrians and automobiles of approaching hostile craft. Signals
can be given by means of rifle shots and ringing bells.
People’s government bodies and interior organs should also
actively carry on the work of evacuating and dispersing urban
institutions and inhabitants.
The aged people, children and other dependants and those who
need not be in towns had better be evacuated to the country. If a town is
populated densely when enemy bombing is heavy, there will be
casualties. That is why the people who need not live in towns should be
evacuated and dispersed, new residence should not be permitted, nor
people entering towns for no special reason allowed to do so.
At present, large crowds are allowed to gather in markets with no
protective measures at all. This is no good. The enemy is now brutally
bombing peaceful inhabitants, men and women, young and old. What
would happen if a large number of people are crowded in a market in
such a situation? Urban markets should be removed to safe places as
soon as possible.
Granaries, munition depots and the like should be evacuated to
safety. Many of them still have not been moved. If they are not quickly
shifted, they may suffer from enemy air raids. Provisions and
munitions in storage should be removed to safe mountainous areas and
spread out in dumps and well camouflaged to prevent the loss of a
single grain or a single item of military supplies from enemy bombing.
In order to avoid damages and casualties from air attack, you must
camouflage possible targets well and black out lights thoroughly. Both
in towns and villages people are now careless about camouflage and
70
blackout, some even leave their lights burning brightly at night. All this
is the manifestation of indolence and laxity. Such a negligence will
easily expose them to enemy air attack. You should, therefore, take
stringent measures for camouflage and blackout. You should see to it
that even the draught cattle as well as the people working on the farms
are all camouflaged. The local government bodies and interior organs
should educate the inhabitants to be meticulous about camouflage and
blackout and supervise and control them in this regard and even punish
those who do not comply with the requirement of air defence. It is also
necessary to organize anti-air-raid training frequently and keep the
inhabitants wide-awake.
Thorough concealment and blackout of probable targets of enemy
bombing should be buttressed with the organized effort to deceive and
lure the enemy by presenting a large number of false targets. If false
tanks, dummy trucks, deceptive gun positions, simulated warehouses
and sham targets with tights which can be switched on and off at night
are set up in large numbers at places far away from inhabited areas, the
enemy will find himself in great confusion. If different kinds of false
targets are set up in many places, the enemy may drop bombs over
them, taking them for the real targets, and fly away. So various
measures are needed to deceive the enemy.
At present, enemy airplanes fly at a low altitude for dropping
bombs. Hence the need to develop a widespread struggle to shoot them
down. You should never be afraid of them. If one fears the enemy, one
cannot fight him or win a war. We must shoot down enemy planes by
all means and keep them from flying about in our sky with impunity.
We must use all types of small arms including heavy machine guns
and rifles, to say nothing of anti-aircraft guns, in combatting enemy
aircraft. If we thus shoot them while they are diving and while they are
climbing up, if we shoot them individually and by groups both at the
front and in the rear, we shall be able to bring them down in large
numbers and deter them from flying around freely in our sky. The
interior force as well as the People’s Army must zealously participate
in the combat against enemy aircraft.
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In consolidating the home front, it is very important to rescue
promptly people injured by air attack and quickly rebuild damaged
mills, factories, railways, roads and bridges.
Rescue parties should be organized in every district to save the
people wounded in air raids by giving them prompt treatment. At the
same time, rehabilitation corps should be formed for timely
reconstruction of bombed facilities to ensure wartime production and
transport to the front without a hitch.
These days transport for the front is often impeded by damage to
railways, roads and bridges from enemy air raids. For a smooth
transport of weapons, ammunition, provisions and other supplies for
the front, it is necessary to take measures to repair damaged railway
tracks and roads quickly, in particular, detours must be arranged at
strategic points on the supply routes to the front, and submerged
bridges built across the Taedong and Chongchon, and other large and
small rivers. Railway Rehabilitation Corps and road rehabilitation
coips should be organized for their prompt rebuilding in case of
damage, and necessary materials kept ready near bridges to facilitate
their reconstruction when damaged.
Damaged railways, roads and bridges cannot be satisfactorily
rebuilt only by the efforts of those rehabilitation coips, in all parts of
the country, therefore, a mass movement should be launched to
rehabilitate such facilities.
Further, anti-aircraft weapons should be deployed near major
railways, roads and bridges to protect them and cover transport for the
front. Anti-aircraft weapons should also be emplaced at power plants,
major mills and factories, and especially power production centres
should be protected from air attack. If power stations are bombed,
wartime production may suffer greatly.
To proceed. If we are to defend the home front effectively, we must
increase our efforts to combat spies, subversive elements, saboteurs
and other reactionaries. Without wiping them out in time, we will be
unable to strengthen the home front or ensure victory in the war.
Interior organs should step up the campaign against spies and
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reactionaries and maintain public order efficiently. Spies, subverters,
saboteurs and other reactionaries are now working in a crafty manner
to disturb our home front and frustrate wartime production. Lurking in
factories and farm villages, they are engaged in subversive activities
and sabotage and try to cause public disturbance by spreading various
misleading rumours.
They also sometimes sneak about here and there in the guise of
lunatics. So the interior organs must not be indifferent to them, but
keep an alert eye on them.
Interior organs must strengthen guards and the control of strangers
in boarding and lodging houses and pay particular attention to the
coastal areas. Many spies, subverters and saboteurs are now infiltrating
into our rear through the coastlines. While keeping the coastal areas
under closer surveillance, you should take various measures to prevent
spies from gaining footholds in inhabited areas.
In order to strengthen the struggle against spies and reactionaries, it
is necessary to mobilize the broad masses in this work. Spies, no matter
how crafty, cannot act without the knowledge of the masses. If you
activate the masses and depend on their efforts, you can have all the
acts of the spies and reactionaries at your finger tips. You should,
therefore, see to it that not only the members of the self-defence corps
but also women, aged people, even children and all the rest of the
people are roused to be on the lookout for undesirable elements and
inform interior organs of suspicious persons on their appearance. In
this way not a single enemy will be allowed to gain footholds and
move about in our rear.
Cases of shirkers and runaways from the People’s Army are said to
have occurred, though in a very small number. This is due to an
inadequate work among the young people. Experience in the years of
the anti-Japanese armed struggle shows that the men who lack
confidence in victory behave in a cowardly manner in battles and even
go the length of surrendering to the enemy or becoming turncoats. So
the Party organizations, government bodies and working people’s
organizations at all levels should step up explanation and information
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among the youth to inspire them with the conviction of victory and
arouse them to actively join the sacred Fatherland Liberation War to
destroy the sworn enemies of our nation, the US imperialists and the
traitorous Syngman Rhee clique. But class enemies and those who
oppose us deliberately should be shown no mercy.
If we are to defend the home front strongly, it may be necessary to
deploy some army forces in provinces in addition to the self-defence
coips. It would be advisable to organize a security regiment in each
province.
The chairmen of the provincial people’s committees and the chiefs
of the provincial interior departments should quickly return and take
steps to implement the tasks given at this meeting by consulting the
chairmen of the provincial Party committees. And it would be
appropriate for members of the Military Commission to go to each
province and guide the implementation of the tasks.
74
TASKS FOR ENSURING WARTIME
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION
Concluding Speech at the 24th Plenary Meeting
of the Cabinet of the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea
September 1, 1950
This meeting has discussed the implementation of the 1950 plan of
agricultural production and various other topics.
The agricultural production plan for this year is a gigantic one. It
envisages a growth of 15.9 per cent in the output of grain, 17 per cent
in the number of cattle, 26.5 per cent in pigs and 16.8 per cent in sheep,
compared with the figures in the previous year.
When the current farm production plan is fulfilled, the problems of
food and raw material for industries will be solved to a great extent. The
state, therefore, has taken various measures to implement this plan from
the beginning of the year, attaching a great significance to its fulfilment.
At the Joint Meeting of the Leading Officials in the Fields of
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery held last January, we put forward
specific ways and means to implement the farm production plan this year.
This was followed by steps taken in February to set up farm machine hire
stations in many parts of the country. The Ministry of Agriculture and
Forestry has made great efforts to implement the tasks set at the joint
conference. The peasants, too, have striven to fulfil and exceed the
production target for the current year with a high degree of enthusiasm.
The result is that, in spite of the unprecedentedly severe drought
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and the outbreak of war this year, the total output of grain is expected
to rise more than 15 per cent over and above the figure of last year. I
thi nk this is a tremendous success.
Nevertheless, quite a few shortcomings in farming have been
revealed this year.
The most serious defect is that a sizable area of land has not been
cultivated because of the failure to overcome the drought. Kangwon
Province neglected the use of rivers and subterranean water for
irrigation and failed to take good care of rice nurseries. This resulted in
a shortage of irrigation water and rice seedlings so that seedlings were
not bedded out to more than 10,000 hectares of paddy fields. In South
Hamgyong Province, the area of paddy fields where seedlings were
transplanted decreased by 4.8 per cent compared with last year. In
these provinces no alternative crops have ever been cultivated in the
fields where rice transplantation failed and they were left idle.
Another shortcoming in this year’s farming is that spring sowing,
the bedding out of rice seedlings and weeding have not been done in
season. In some areas the transplantation of rice seedlings was as late
as at the end of June, and a few paddy fields had been left unweeded,
until the beginning of August.
These shortcomings are due mainly to inefficient guidance to
agriculture on the part of the local government bodies, the provincial
people’s committees in particular.
Guidance of agriculture should always be the central task of the
local government bodies at all levels. Since guidance to factories and
other enterprises is directly given by the Ministry of Industry, and
guidance to transport directly by the Ministry of Transport, what can
be the more important function of the local government bodies than the
guidance of agriculture? Local government bodies at all levels should
take agriculture in hand and concentrate their efforts on it.
Some provincial people’s committees, however, are not paying
attention to the guidance of the rural economy, leaving the matter
exclusively to the officials of local departments of agriculture and
forestry. They did not take measures to overcome the drought, nor did
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they organize the efforts to finish sowing and bedding out seasonably in
a meticulous way. The central authorities reiterated the directives on
planting alternative crops where the sowing of intended crops failed, but
nothing was done to implement them. The chairman of the Jagang
Provincial People’s Committee does not even know how many hectares
of farm land has not been sown. This being the case, how efficient would
have been his guidance of agriculture, even if he had tried?
Since the outbreak of war, workers of local government bodies
have been concerned only about the battle results of the People’s Army
and neglected agriculture. Of course, this orientation cannot be
condemned in toto. But more importantly, the local government
officials should have striven to reorganize agricultural work on a war
footing and step up production.
Not only does war entail the destruction of large numbers of buildings
and damage to crops, but also it requires the mobilization of huge
manpower resources. So it is inevitable that there is strain on manpower
in the countryside during war. If local people’s government officials had
foreseen this and taken necessary steps at the outbreak of the war, there
would not have been, despite manpower shortage, the practice of leaving
fields unsown or failing to weed them at the right time.
As for the chairmen of the provincial and county people’s
committees who have hindered agricultural production by their
irresponsible guidance this year, they should be questioned and
brought to account. In future, indifference shown to rural work by
government workers should not be ignored, but dealt strictly with.
The effort to increase food production during war is a struggle to
ensure victory at the front. Without provisions you cannot win the war.
Workers of government bodies at all levels must understand correctly
the importance of increased food production in winning the war and
strive to produce more in keeping with the triumphant advance of the
People’s Amy.
Government officials at all echelons must quickly put all faming
work on a war footing, concentrate all efforts on agricultural
production and provide substantial guidance to current autumnal fam
77
work. Agricultural production plan this year should thus be fully
implemented to satisfy the demands of the front and the rear for food
and other farm products.
First of all, autumn vegetables should be planted on uncultivated
fields. If these fields are left idle during the war, the demands for
agricultural products cannot be met fully, and also a great loss can be
incurred politically. We must not let even an inch of land lie fallow. If
we grow vegetables in the idle fields even now, we shall be able to
produce plenty of radishes to be dried in slices and cabbages to be
dehydrated, if unfit for kimchi.
Autumn harvest should be gathered on time. If not, crops may be
damaged by frost and hail, and this will decrease the grain yields. So
the grain crops must be reaped in as soon as they are ripe.
If the harvest is to be reaped seasonably in spite of manpower
shortage in the countryside, the work force should be organized
rationally, and manpower support given properly. Local people’s
committees should see to it that mutual-labour-aid teams are widely
formed among the peasants with a village as a unit for reaping the
harvest. At the same time, the people evacuated to the country, urban
residents and students should be mobilized for harvesting. The local
people’s committees should see to it that dependent families of the
soldiers of the People’s Army and those of the people who are away for
a long time, drafted by the state for labour service, are given help on
priority basis in reaping their harvest.
The harvests should not be stacked in the fields, but quickly
hauled in and threshed so that not even a single grain of the precious
crop is lost.
The government bodies at all levels should see to it that the area
sown with winter wheat and barley is increased positively. They
should also check that good seeds are planted in broad furrows and
plenty of compost spread so as to ensure high yields. In particular, the
provincial people’s committees in the liberated areas in the southern
half of Korea should quickly draw up a plan for sowing winter wheat
and barley and make good preparations for their timely planting.
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People’s government officials at all echelons should pay the
greatest attention to ensuring that the peasants work safely on their
farms even under the heavy, atrocious bombing of the enemy. They
should see to it that peasants camouflage themselves when engaged in
farm work and that bomb shelters are built at the edge of fields.
Farming for next year should be prepared well.
What is most important in this respect is to prepare plenty of compost.
The Flungnam Fertilizer Factory has been damaged by barbarous
enemy bombing. Even if this factory is rebuilt, it will be difficult to
transport fertilizer under heavy bombing. So, if the production of
compost is not stressed, the standard of farming will not be satisfactory
next year. Government officials should not always depend on the state
to provide them with chemical fertilizer, but ensure the production of
compost sufficient for next year’s farming.
You can find the abundant sources of compost everywhere. So, if
you arouse the peasants, they will produce as much as necessary.
Mountains are thick with grass. By cutting and letting it decompose,
you can get good compost. If pigs and other domestic animals are
reared, they will provide plenty of manure. Government officials
should properly organize and guide the preparation of natural
fertilizer-grass mowing and obtaining barnyard manure-so that every
farm household will have large amounts of compost.
You should conduct proper political work among peasants to raise
their enthusiasm regarding the production of compost. Just as
decorations were awarded in the past to workers and technicians of
the fertilizer factory who contributed to the increased output of farm
products by producing plenty of fertilizer, honours should be
awarded by the state to peasants who set example in the production of
compost. Also the importance of compost production should be
widely propagated through newspapers and radios so as to develop a
mass movement in this field.
Chairmen of the provincial people’s committees should, on their return,
organize the production of natural fertilizer and push it dynamically. This
is the only way to ensure the success of next year’s farming.
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Good seeds are needed to increase yields. Every farmer should be
encouraged to choose good-quality seeds and keep them well. Also the
state should take steps for the supply of good-quality seeds.
Measures should be taken to produce farm implements. Peasants
should be encouraged to prepare necessary farm implements for
themselves. At the same time, factories and producers’ cooperatives
should manufacture them on a large scale, so that agricultural
production next year does not suffer from the lack of farm implements.
Like this year there might be a severe drought next spring. We
should, therefore, take steps to secure irrigation water beforehand and
actively protect pumping facilities from enemy bombing.
Autumn ploughing should be undertaken as soon as the harvesting
is completed. Along with this, steps should be taken to restore the land
cratered by the air attack to cultivation and conserve soil.
Last, 1 would like to emphasize a few points.
Agricultural tax in kind should be collected properly.
It has been suggested that rates of tax in kind be fixed in accordance
with the fertility of the land. There may be advantages of such a tax
system. But private farming is still prevalent in the countryside, and
crop yields vary from year to year. This makes the adoption of this
suggestion unpracticable. We should continue with the current system
of collecting tax in kind on the basis of correct assessment of actual
crop yields. The principle behind collecting agricultural tax in kind is
that the tax should be received from the peasants exactly as stipulated
by the regulations, neither more nor less.
If you are to avoid deviation in the collection of the tax, you must
first see to it that crop yields are assessed accurately. This year the
assessment of yields should not be left exclusively to the care of the
assessment committee members. Workers of the sub-county and ri
people’s committees should go out to the fields themselves and guide
the assessment.
The responsibilities for the collection of agricultural tax in kind
need to be demarcated clearly between the Ministry of Agriculture and
Lorestry and the Lood Administration Bureau of the Cabinet. Last
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year, because there was no clear demarcation there were instances of
shirking responsibilities or shifting them. This greatly interfered with
the collection of the tax. In future, assessment of the tax in kind should
be the responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, and
its collection should be undertaken mainly by the Food Administration
Bureau of the Cabinet with the help of the former. This will ensure
promptness and accuracy in this work.
Every provincial people’s committee should conduct political work
well among the peasants to ensure that they pay the agricultural tax in
kind within the stipulated period.
Special attention must be paid to the smooth collection of
agricultural tax in kind without deviation in the liberated area of the
southern half of Korea. Since this is the first time we are trying out this
tax system in that part of the country, there might be deviations unless
the people’s government bodies handle this matter prudently.
In order to ensure accurate tax collection in the liberated area, the
significance of the agricultural tax in kind should be brought home to
the peasants. They suffered from the forced delivery of grain at the
hands of the Japanese imperialists before the August 15 liberation and
then from the coercion of the puppet Syngman Rhee clique after
liberation. Also, they have been subjected to distorted propaganda of
the reactionaries against the system of agricultural tax in kind adopted
by the Government of our Republic. For this reason, they might
harbour the mistaken notion that agricultural tax in kind is the same as
forced delivery. The people’s government bodies in the liberated area,
therefore, should widely explain to the peasants that the system of
agricultural tax in kind is the most democratic and popular one, and
fundamentally different from the forced delivery. They should ensure
that the peasants will welcome it warmly with the correct
understanding. It would be advisable to organize meetings to welcome
the introduction of the agricultural tax in kind system.
Organs of the people’s government in the liberated area of the south
should correctly assess the actual crop yields and, on this basis, levy
the tax in kind fairly. This will encourage peasants to place greater
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confidence in the people’s government and pay it voluntarily.
Collection of agricultural tax in kind and storage of cereals should be
in keeping with the wartime conditions. When bombing is heavy,
peasants should not be allowed to move about in groups to deliver the tax
in kind. Tax should be delivered individually, and the cereals stored safely
in different places rather than concentrated in one place in great piles.
Warehouses and dumps for the grain should be camouflaged thoroughly.
Collection of the tax in kind and storage of cereals under wartime
conditions is a very important and responsible work. So the chairmen
of provincial people’s committees should not just sit at their desks and
give instructions to their subordinates in a bureaucratic way. The
chairman of a provincial people’s committee is master of that province.
Since he is entrusted with the responsibility of organizing and guiding
all work in his province, he ought to go to the field to organize and
guide the collection of tax in kind and the storage of cereals.
You should work efficiently to ensure victory in the war.
The Fatherland Liberation War may end soon or drag on for quite
some time. If the US imperialists bring only a small force of their
aggressor troops to the Korean front, the war will be over soon; if they
come in large numbers, it will continue for a long time. So we must be
prepared in every way to cope with a long-drawn-out war. Even if the
war ends soon we have nothing to lose by our preparedness. On the
contrary, if the war continues for a long time and we are not ready at
all, the consequences will be irretrievable. So the chairmen of
provincial people’s committees should not waste even a day, but strive
against time to be prepared thoroughly for a long war.
All factories and enterprises should stock sufficient fuel, raw
materials and other goods for normal production even in winter.
We must have supplies of clothing in reserve. We must increase the
strength of the People’s Army against possible reinforcement of the
US imperialist aggressor troops. This is why we should have supplies
of uniforms, shoes, blankets and other clothing ready with which to
provide new units as soon as they are set up. We must therefore
procure cotton and cotton fabrics on an extensive scale.
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The purchase of cereals should be conducted well to accumulate
food grain in reserve. This is important especially for the provincial
people’s committees in the liberated area of the south. Since the
frontline has moved far down to the south, it would be difficult to carry
food supplies all the way from the northern half of Korea. In such
circumstances, the provincial people’s committees in the liberated
south should be proficient in the procurement of grain and supply it to
the front responsibly. Each provincial people’s committee should not
only organize the purchase of grain, but also arrange carts and
manpower necessary for the transport of the purchased grain.
Weapons, ammunition and other war supplies should be carried to
the frontline units on time. When railway lines are damaged by enemy
bombing, carts and people should be mobilized for the purpose. The
people in South Jolla and North Kyongsang Provinces are said to be
transporting ammunition and food to the troops on the battle line in
spite of danger. This is laudable, indeed! If all the people help frontline
units in this way, the enemy will not be able to cut off the front from
the rear, no matter how desperately he tries.
Maintaining a steady flow of reinforcements and replacements to
the People’s Army is most important in ensuring victory in the war.
The chairmen of provincial people’s committees must perform this
task with responsibility.
Communications should be improved. Without that, the state activities
cannot be carried on satisfactorily. At present, however, communications
are not properly maintained between provinces and counties, counties and
sub-counties, sub-counties and ri, and even between the centre and
provinces. In this crisis with the destiny of the country at stake, such
inefficient communications pose a serious problem. Communications
should be improved to ensure prompt and accurate transmission of
directives from the centre down through provinces, counties, sub-counties
and ri. Prompt measures should be taken for conveying instructions from
the centre in case the communication system suffers damage. A few
messengers should stand by at each county, sub-county and ri at all times
to carry messages when necessary.
83
ON THE OCCASION OF THE SECOND
ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOUNDING
OF THE DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE’S
REPUBLIC OF KOREA
Radio Address to All the Korean People
September 9, 1950
Dear fellow countrymen and brothers,
Officers and men of the heroic People’s Army,
Valiant men and women guerrillas,
Today, all the Korean people are greeting the second anniversary of
the founding of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the result
of a long-drawn-out struggle.
Two years ago, on September 9, 1948, the First Session of the
Supreme People’s Assembly adopted the Constitution of the DPRK,
proclaimed the Republic and established its Government.
The Korean people celebrate the second birthday of the Republic in
the raging flames of the Fatherland Liberation War against the US
imperialist invaders and their stooges, the traitorous Syngman Rhee
clique, and for the independence, freedom and honour of their country.
All patriotic Koreans, regardless of their social position, profession,
property status, political views and religion, have risen as one man in
the war to defend the Republic set up by their own hands and to
safeguard the liberties won by their own struggle.
Our Republic was the first state in the world to be founded by the
people who were liberated from the yoke of colonial slavery.
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It is only two years since the establishment of the Republic. But in
this period our people have achieved a great success in their sacred
struggle to build an independent democratic state.
The path traversed by our Republic in the two years of its existence
was not smooth. It was the path of fierce struggle to overcome
difficulties and obstacles and to defend the Republic from enemy
intrusion; yet an honourable path on which a brilliant victory was won.
Ever since its foundation, our Republic has undergone severe trials
because of interference by the reactionaries at home and abroad,
headed by the US imperialist marauders. The US imperialists who are
pursuing the policy of colonial plunder in the southern half of our
country and their stooges, the traitor Syngman Rheeites, have tried to
smother our Republic since its inception by rallying reactionary forces
at home and abroad, and at present they are making a brutal attack
against the Republic and the Korean people.
Our Republic has opposed the colonial enslavement policy of the
imperialist marauders, defended the independence and sovereignty of
our nation and championed the interests and democratic rights of our
people. Our Republic which enjoys the unanimous support of all the
Korean people is advancing triumphantly on the honourable road in the
cause of the country and the people, overcoming all trials.
Dear fellow countrymen, brothers and sisters,
Officers and men of the heroic People’s Amy,
Valiant men and women guerrillas,
Ever since the day they occupied the southern half of our country,
the US imperialists have made frantic efforts to divide our nation, turn
our country into their colony, devastate our national economy, plunder
our people, and make Korea a bridgehead for their continental
aggression. For this purpose, they manipulated their minions, the
traitorous Syngman Rhee clique, to conduct separate elections in south
Korea on May 10, 1948 and set up his reactionary, anti-people police
rule.
When our country and people were confronted with the danger of
partition and colonial enslavement, we held north-south general
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elections on August 25, 1948, proclaimed the Democratic People’s
Republic and established its Government, in accordance with the will
of all the Korean people who love the country and desire its
reunification and independence on democratic lines. This was a great
victory our people achieved in their just struggle to realize the
cherished desire of the nation.
On the day of its founding, the Government of the Republic
published its historic political programme for the realization of
complete national reunification and for the building of a prosperous,
independent and democratic state in our country.
The political programme of the Government of the Republic
declared that every effort would be made to build a unified,
independent, sovereign and democratic state as soon as possible,
achieve territorial integrity and completely reunify the nation, by
uniting all the Korean people closely around the Government.
The programme also declared that the baneful aftereffects of the
many years of Japanese imperialist colonial rule would be wiped out
from the political, economic and cultural life of our country, that
lawful punishment would be meted out to the collaborators and other
traitors who had actively helped the Japanese imperialists against the
interests of the Korean people, that the survivals of the outdated
Japanese imperialist ideology would be eradicated and that an active
struggle would be launched against every attempt of the reactionaries
to sell out our country again to foreign imperialists and undermine the
democratic system established by our people.
The programme pointed out that the Government would declare
null and void all the laws enacted in the years of Japanese imperialist
rule to enslave our nation and all anti-people, anti-democratic
legislation rigged up by the reactionary puppet regime in south Korea,
and strive to consolidate and develop the results of the democratic
measures such as the agrarian reform, the nationalization of industries,
and the introduction of the Labour Law and the Law on Sex Equality,
etc., in north Korea and extend them throughout the country.
The programme elucidated that in order to build a prosperous,
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independent and democratic state in Korea, steadily improve the
material well-being of the people and consolidate the political and
economic independence of the country, the colonial dependence and
deformity of our economy would be eliminated and an independent
national economy built in opposition to the policy of economic
enslavement pursued by foreign monopoly capitalists to colonize our
country again.
The programme also set forth the task of ensuring big strides in
education, culture and health service.
Pointing out that the people’s committee, a new form of political
power established by the free will of the Korean people, was the
genuine political power of all the Korean people, the programme
emphasized the task of struggle to consolidate local people’s
committees in areas where they had already been established and
rebuild them where they had been dissolved by the reactionary forces.
The programme stated that our people would be led into ra nks of
the liberty-loving people of the whole world, that friendship would be
promoted with the freedom-loving democratic nations which respect
the sovereignty and liberty of our nation and desire to establish
relations with us on an equal basis and that all imperialist states which
attempt to revive aggressive imperialist Japan would be considered
hostile to our nation.
Last, the programme said that greatest effort would be made to
strengthen the People’s Army in every way so as to defend our
territory, the rights of the people and the results of the democratic
reforms from hostile encroachment and to prevent our people from
suffering again the bitter lot of a homeless people.
In the period of only two years since its establishment, the
Government of the Republic has already achieved great success in
implementing the historic tasks embodied in the political programme,
under the ardent support of all the Korean people.
In order to establish powerful political and economic foundations in
the northern half of Korea for achieving the reunification and
independence of the country on democratic lines under the situation
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where the country is divided into north and south because of the US
imperialist policy of colonial enslavement and national division, the
Government of the Republic got down to the colossal task of
strengthening the local people’s government bodies, consolidating and
developing the results of the democratic reforms carried out already in
the north, rapidly advancing the national economy and bringing about
the blossoming of national culture, in the northern half the national
economy and culture have been rehabilitated and developed, the
material and cultural standards of the people have risen by leaps and
bounds, and thousands and thousands of national cadres have been
trained. As a result, the northern half has become a powerful
democratic base for national reunification.
In the field of foreign policy, the DPRK Government has made
every effort to enhance the international prestige of the Republic,
consolidate and develop friendly relations with the peoples of many
peace-loving democratic countries and strengthen solidarity and
cooperation in the democratic camp as an equal member.
Having established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, the
People’s Republic of China, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania,
Hungary, Bulgaria, Albania, the German Democratic Republic, the
Mongolian People’s Republic and the Democratic Republic of
Vietnam, our Republic is now developing relations of internationalist
cooperation and friendship and receiving ardent support and
encouragement from the freedom-loving people the world over in the
struggle against the US imperialist aggressors, the provoker of a new
war.
Ever since its establishment, the DPRK Government has used every
possible method and taken every possible step to achieve territorial
integrity and national reunification by peaceful means and build a
unified, independent and democratic state. It has all along maintained
the line of peaceful national reunification to settle the Korean question
by checking the sinister attempt of the US imperialists and their
stooges, the traitorous Syngman Rhee clique, to unleash a fratricidal
war and drown our beautiful land in blood for the purpose of turning
the northern half also into a colony of the United States.
The struggle to implement the decision of the Moscow Three
Foreign Ministers Conference, a reasonable international agreement
for the settlement of the Korean question; then the effort to push
forward the work of the USSR-US Joint Commission and, after the
failure of the joint commission, to put into effect the just proposal of
the Soviet Government for a simultaneous withdrawal of Soviet and
US troops from Korea and for leaving the Korean question to the
Korean people themselves for solution; the convocation of the April
1948 north-south joint conference, its proposal for holding north-south
general elections and the struggle to put it into effect; the strivings to
realize the measures for peaceful national reunification proposed by
the Democratic Front for the Reunification of Korea in June 1949 and
to put into practice the appeal of the DFRK made in June 1950 on
pushing ahead with the measures for peaceful national
reunification-all this shows how sincere efforts the Government of the
Republic and our people made to reunify the country peacefully by
avoiding bloodshed planned by the US imperialists and the traitorous
Syngman Rhee clique against our country and people.
In order to avoid extending clashes on the 38th Parallel and the
tragedy of fratricide, the Government of the Republic put up all along
with the provocations by the Syngman Rhee’s puppet army and police
forces on thousands of occasions in recent two years; under the
manipulation of the US imperialists they ceaselessly intruded into the
area north of the 38 th Parallel, often kidnapping its inhabitants, raiding
farmhouses, robbing them of their property, burning them down, and
killing innocent people
What, then, was the answer of the US imperialists and the traitorous
Syngman Rhee clique to the consistent effort of the Government of the
Republic and the Korean people to settle the Korean question
peacefully? They deliberately frustrated the work of the USSR-US
Joint Commission for the implementation of the decision of the
Moscow Three Foreign Ministers Conference. They turned down the
reasonable Soviet proposal for a simultaneous withdrawal of Soviet
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and US troops from Korea. They reinforced the anti-people, terrorist
police system in south Korea and resorted to terrorism against Korean
patriots and slaughtered them with unparalleled brutality. They rigged
up the treacherous separate elections at the point of the bayonet on
May 10, 1948 in opposition to the proposal on the country’s peaceful
reunification through north-south general elections made by the April
joint conference of the representatives of 56 political parties and social
organizations of north and south Korea embracing more than 12
million members. They replied to the two DFRK proposals on the
measures for peaceful national reunification by a surprise invasion on
the northern half of Korea, provocation of fratricidal war and direct
intervention of the US imperialist army, navy and air force.
All the Korean people and their armed forces, the heroic People’s
Army, who love their motherland, the DPRK, took up arms and are
fighting the war against the traitorous Syngman Rhee clique and the
US imperialist invaders, to liberate the country and defend its
independence, freedom and honour at the cost of their lives.
Dear fellow countrymen, brothers and sisters,
The Fatherland Liberation War has been going on more than two
months now. In this honourable war the Korean people and their heroic
People’s Army have registered a great success. In the two-odd months
of war our valiant People’s Army officers and men have destroyed the
main forces of Syngman Rhee’s puppet army and US army divisions in
our land and liberated a vast area of the southern half of our country.
By its brilliant success in the righteous Fatherland Liberation War,
our People’s Army has won the love and respect of all the Korean
people and the freedom-loving people the world over.
On the occasion of the second anniversary of the foundation of the
DPRK, I would like, on behalf of the Government of the Republic, to
offer thanks to the officers and men of the heroic People’s Army and
the men and women guerrillas who are defending the independence,
freedom and honour of the country in fierce battles against the enemy.
Today our People’s Army is in fact fighting the invaders of US
imperialism, the leader of world imperialism, rather than the Syngman
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Rhee’s puppet army. The remnants of the puppet army destroyed by
our army are not strong enough to check the powerful advance of the
People’s Army. In the two-odd months of battles, the puppet army has
lost the bulk of its main forces and weapons. Now it is a mere fig leaf to
hide the US imperialists’ armed aggression
The hired soldiers on the payroll of US monopolists who invade the
territory of other nations, trample on their independence and freedom
and try to subjugate them, have already paid a heavy toll for the misery
and disasters they have brought to our country. As the Supreme
Headquarters of the Korean People’s Army reported recently, in the
past two months of battles the American imperialist aggressor army
casualties alone amount to 15,176 killed, 45,000 wounded, and 1,736
captured by our heroic People’s Army.
As the US imperialist invasion of our country continues, their
hirelings will have to pay heavier toll, confronted with our heroic
People’s Army launching more powerful offensives to deliver them
crushing blows.
Not only the People’s Army, but all the Korean people are fighting
the American imperialist invaders. Our people in the rear are exerting
all their efforts and making immense sacrifices to ensure victory at the
front in support of the People’s Army which is upholding the honour of
the country in the fierce battles against the enemy. On the occasion of
the second birthday of the Republic, I express my gratitude and give
honour to all the people in the rear for their unprecedented heroism and
patriotic devotion shown to ensure the victory at the front.
Today, the Government of the DPRK is exercising its authority not
only in the northern half of Korea, but in the whole of the south except
a small area of North and South Kyongsang Provinces. Nearly 95 per
cent of our territory and 97 per cent of the population are now unified
and united under the flag of the glorious DPRK. The people in the
southern half who have won back their liberty and rights are now free
from oppression, poverty, darkness and rightlessness, are joining the
people in the north in the worthwhile struggle for the prosperity of the
country and their own happiness.
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Now I congratulate all the people in the south on their liberation
from the reactionary rule of the US imperialists and the traitorous
Syngman Rhee clique.
The liberated people in the south, too, are making concerted efforts
to defend the Republic and giving active support to the advancing
People’s Army.
In the liberated area the people’s committee, the organ of genuine
people’s government, which was established by the initiative of the
people but dissolved under the repression of US imperialism and the
traitorous Syngman Rhee clique, has been re-established, and its
elections in counties, sub-counties and ri (dong) are being held
successfully.
The voters in the south are participating actively in the elections
with a high degree of political enthusiasm and patriotic ardour
u nk nown in the years of Syngman Rhee rule. The people in the south
were not at all interested then in the elections to the ruling machinery
which oppressed them. But today, they are electing the organ of their
own government in accordance with their own will. So it is natural that
they are showing a very high degree of political awareness.
In the elections to the people’s committee in counties, sub-counties
and ri (dong) in the liberated area of the south, 97 to 98 per cent of the
voters have participated. This eloquently shows how enthusiastically
the people in the south participated in the elections to their organ of
power and how ardently they support the Government of the Republic.
The same democratic reforms as in the northern half are being
successively carried out in the liberated south. An agrarian reform has
been introduced on the principle of confiscation without compensation
and free distribution to meet the centuries-old desire of the peasants;
and a labour law is in force for the workers and office employees.
As a result of the agrarian reform, peasants in the south, too, have
become owners of land, free forever from subjugation and exploitation
by landlords, from poverty and ignorance, and from rightlessness and
humiliation. By this reform, a large area of land has been expropriated
from the Syngman Rhee puppet regime, US imperialism and landlords
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and distributed without compensation among hired farm hands and the
peasants who have no or little land. In Kyonggi Province 156,824
hectares of land was distributed among 214,115 farm families, in
South Kangwon Province 35,293 hectares among 74,789, and in South
Chungchong Province 95,241 hectares among 216,980 as of August
31. The agrarian reform is being successfully carried out with the
enthusiastic participation of the peasants in every province of the south
and through their energetic struggle against landlords and the
traitorous Syngman Rhee clique.
All the democratic reforms carried out by the Government of the
Republic in the liberated area of the south are winning ardent support
of the people there.
The people in the southern half who have been suffering under the
anti-people, reactionary police rule of US imperialism and the
traitorous Syngman Rhee clique, are zealously joining the people in the
north in the Fatherland Liberation War aimed at destroying and forcing
out the US imperialist invaders and the traitorous Syngman Rhee band
from our country. Hundreds of thousands of patriotic young men and
women in the south have joined the People’s Army and the People’s
Volunteers Corps of their own accord and are fighting arms in hand
bravely against these invaders and traitorous clique.
Our war against the American imperialist invaders is the just
Fatherland Liberation War which is waged not only by the People’s
Army, but by all the people.
These invaders will feel more keenly as the days go by how strong
the Korean people are, who have risen up against the aggressors.
They are trying to justify behind the UN flag their aggressive
military actions against our country on the basis of the illegal
resolution of the UN Security Council adopted in the absence of the
representatives of the Soviet Union, the People’s Republic of China
and the Korean people.
As the world knows, the UN was set up to respect the territories of
all nations, their independence, freedom and sovereignty, and to
safeguard world peace and security. By pressing their hirelings into
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service as voting machines, however, the US imperialists are misusing
the UN for their aggressive purpose of encroaching upon the territories
of other countries and the independence, freedom and sovereignty of
other nations. If it is to respect the independence and sovereignty of all
nations and safeguard peace and security in the true sense of the words,
the UN must stop at once the US imperialists’ piratic aggression
against our country and their brutal bombing of our peaceful towns and
villages.
Recently, at the proposal of the Democratic Front for the
Reunification of Korea, a “Korean People’s Statement” was published,
requesting the UN Security Council to take steps to terminate
immediately the US imperialist invasion on our country and withdraw
their aggressor troops from our land right away. The statement is
signed by more than 13 million Koreans aged 15 and above. If it
refuses to be a tool of US imperialist aggression and respects the rights
and liberty of the Korean people, the UN must heed to their voice and
check the invasion.
The US imperialist invaders and their minions must know clearly
that Korea is not a California of the United States but belongs to the
Korean people, that the Korean people are firmly determined to fight to
the last drop of their blood in defence of the independence, freedom
and honour of their country and that the Korean people who are
fighting a just war will emerge victorious.
Describing their brutal acts of aggression against our country as
“UN police action”, the American imperialists try to hide the
tremendous losses their troops have sustained in the Korean war and
their difficulties and crisis from their own people and the world public.
Who will believe as “police action” the continuing US imperialist
military operations which have taken a toll of more than 15,000 lives
just in a matter of two months?
MacArthur’s headquarters boastfully report of the thousands of
tons of bombs dropped every day on our peaceful villages and towns
and over the heads of innocent people. This is advertised shamelessly
as “UN police action” by the incendiaries of a new war and leaders of
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aggression such as Truman, MacArthur and Acheson.
The US imperialist invaders are implementing their long meditated
predatory plan of conquering the Korean people by force of arms and
intimidation, massacring them, enslaving them, plunging them into
poverty and starvation and devastating the economy of our country.
By atrocious bombing and naval bombardment, the American
gangsters have destroyed Chongjin, Wonsan, Nampho, Taejon, Wonju
and many other towns, burnt down thousands of villages and killed
large numbers of peaceful inhabitants in cold blood. The American
imperialist armed intruders have devastated innumerable industrial
enterprises, among them the Hungnam Fertilizer Factory, the Nampho
Glass Factory, the Pyongyang Tobacco Factory, the Pyongyang
Cornstarch Factory, the Nampho Smeltery, the Hwanghae Iron Works
and the Chongjin Steel Plant-the pride of our country.
The American gangsters can possibly destroy our towns, villages and
industrial establishments, but they will not be able to deprive the Korean
people of their liberty, independence and sovereignty. The Korean
people will never forget these imperialist invaders’ atrocities against our
country and people, and will curse them for generations to come.
By bombing our country and people barbarously, the US imperialist
armed aggressors have earned the burning hatred and resentment of all
the Korean people and have exposed their beastly nature even to those
people who worshipped the United States.
To kneel before the colonialist enslavers or to fight for the
independence, liberty and honour of their country-these were the two
alternatives. All patriotic Koreans have chosen the latter course
without hesitation. All the Korean people and their armed forces, the
heroic People’s Army, are fighting the Fatherland Liberation War as
one man to win an ultimate victory over the US imperialist invaders.
The officers and men of our People’s Army are displaying peerless
bravery and patriotism in fierce battles and repelling the enemy
valiantly. The people at the home front are striving with heroism and
patriotic devotion to ensure victory at the battle front. Our People’s
Army is courageous without equal, and our people are heroic.
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The officers and men of our People’s Army have gained rich
experience in the two months of battles, and acquired combat efficiency
in surprising the enemy from behind and surrounding and destroying
him more successfully. Our People’s Army is now stronger than ever
before and is capable of dealing fatal blows at the enemy. The course of
war over the past two months has shown that our People’s Army is
stronger than the US imperialist invading army and that our officers who
come from the people are superior to the enemy officers.
In a vain attempt to find an excuse for their acts of aggression, the
US imperialist invaders describe as “aggressors” the Korean people
who have risen in defence of the independence, liberty and honour of
their country. This reminds us of the old sayings, “A thief accuses the
victim” and “A nonsense ridiculous enough to make a cow laugh.”
The logic of the United States robbers presents as “aggressors” the
Korean people who are fighting to defend their national independence,
freedom and rights from the invaders from across the ocean whereas it
describes as the “defender of peace and good conduct” the colonial
plunderers who are invading the territory of other country by
mobilizing their army, navy and air force, trampling upon the rights
and freedom of the other nation, bombing its peaceful towns and
villages barbarously and massacring innocent people.
The essence of American “philosophy” by which the US
imperialists define an aggressor is fully revealed in the confession of
Kim Hyo Sok, the so-called former Minister of Home Affairs of the
Syngman Rhee puppet regime. He related what happened when he and
Beard, an American police adviser to the Syngman Rhee puppet
regime, visited the American Embassy in south Korea in April 1949.
American ambassador Muccio, after sociable talks with them, had said
that politics meant force, that there was no need to discriminate ways
and means when forces collided, that the stronger force would win
over the weaker, that victory meant good and defeat evil.
The US imperialists will never be able to justify their acts of
aggression committed by instigating the traitor Syngman Rheeites to
provoke a fratricidal war and by launching a direct armed intervention
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against our country and people according to their long meditated plan.
How can they explain the already published map of strategic plan
worked out by themselves and the Syngman Rhee clique to “push
north?” How can they excuse themselves for the agreements on “push
north” between MacArthur and Syngman Rhee in Tokyo, Japan in
February this year? How can they hide the truth of the sinister trips
ceaselessly made by US Congressmen, diplomatic envoys and the
representatives of the Defence Department since February this year
and Dulles’s visit to south Korea and his inspection of the area along
the 38th Parallel and the trenches of the Syngman Rhee puppet army
on the eve of the “push north?” As the Soviet delegate Malik pointed
out at a UN Security Council session, nobody will think Dulles was
picking wild lilies in a trench of the Syngman Rhee puppet army.
As an illustration to expose how the traitorous Syngman Rhee cabal
prepared the fratricidal war under the direct manipulation of US
imperialism, I would like to quote a passage from a secret letter from
Syngman Rhee to Cho Byong Ok, his “special envoy”, dated April 10,
1949, discovered at the former’s secret archives. It reads: “I thi nk you
should frankly discuss this situation in fullest confidence with high
officials of both the United Nations and the United States. In a strictly
confidential manner tell them what plans we have for the unification of
north and south. As a matter of fact, we are ready for the unification
now in every respect but one; namely, we lack arms and ammunition....
We need two naval vessels of 8,000 tons each, with 18 inch guns, for
the defense of the Y alu and Tumen Rivers. We need fast running patrol
boats to guard against Communist underground movements along our
coasts. We need 200,000 soldiers trained and organized for defense
along the northern border. We need planes for defense and anti-aircraft
guns. And we need them now.” In his letter to Robert Oliver, dated
September 30, 1949, Syngman Rhee said, “I received your letters and
tha nk you for them.... I wish I had time to write out from time to time
some of my thoughts relating to the changing events both here and in
America.... I want to tell you briefly concerning our situation. I feel
strongly that now is the most psychological moment when we should
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take an aggressive measure.... We will drive some of Kim II Sung’s
men to the mountain region and where we will gradually starve them
out. Then our line of defense must be strengthened along the Tumen
and Yalu Rivers. We will be in a 100% better position. The natural
boundary line along the river and the Paikdoo Mts can be made almost
impenetrable with sufficient number of planes and two or three fast
running naval vessels standing at the mouths of the two rivers with
fighting planes defending all the coast lines including Cheju Island.... I
am sure we can settle this question within a reasonable short time if we
are only allowed to do it.”
The secret reply from the “special envoy” Cho Byong Ok then at
Lake Success addressed to Syngman Rhee on October 12, 1949 reads
in part: “It was with great care and interest that I read your letter to Dr.
Oliver.... The proposals you expounded therein are, under the
circumstances prevailing, the only logical and ultimate method of
bringing about our desired unification. However, after taking into
consideration all the factors involved I am inclined to view that the
time is not opportune as yet to carry out such a project, in the first
place, I seriously question our preparedness, and the international
opinion will not approve of such an action to be taken.... I have
discussed it with Ambassador Chang and Dr. Oliver and we
unanimously agreed that this matter should be regarded as the basic
plan of our government that should be carried out when we are ready
and the time is opportune.”
These secret documents show that US imperialism and the
traitorous Syngman Rhee clique were preparing for the “push north”
and the fratricidal war for a long time. Now that the secret is out, they
will never be able to hide their aggressive nature, no matter what
excuse they bring forth.
Dear fellow countrymen, brothers and sisters,
Officers and men of the heroic People’s Army,
Brave men and women guerrillas,
The Fatherland Liberation War of the Korean people against the US
imperialist invaders is now at the decisive stage. The enemy is
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completely surrounded on three sides, pressed into a narrow zone
marked by Kyongju, Yongchon, Taegu, Changnyong, Masan and
Jinhae. His only way out is the Korea Strait.
In an effort to extricate himself from impending defeat, the enemy
is putting up a desperate resistance, mobilizing all the troops and
weapons of the three services.
However, he will be crushed by the advance of the heroic People’s
Army, and he will be wiped out from our country before long.
The nearer approaches the time of his destruction, the more frantic
will the enemy grow. The narrower the space where he is pressed, the
more desperate will be his resistance.
Officers and men of the People’s Army and guerrillas must,
therefore, fight more bravely and more heroically and intensify your
attack and surprise actions to wipe out the enemy troops who refuse to
surrender. You must not waste even a single bullet or shell but make
effective use of it, and protect your lives and weapons well from enemy
air-raids. The heavier the enemy air attack, the closer you must
approach his positions, break through his defence adroitly, penetrate
into the depth of his defence and deeper into his rear and destroy him
by surrounding him. You must know this.
Officers and men of the People’s Army and men and women
guerrillas, the unavenged death of the women and children killed
brutally by the indiscriminate barbarous bombing and naval gunfire of
the US imperialists and the towns and villages in flames are calling for
revenge. With growing hatred and resentment at the barbarous bombing
and atrocities peipetrated by the American imperialist gangsters against
our country and people and in a fury of vengeance, you must fight the
enemy more bravely and mercilessly. You must wipe out the American
invaders from our country and win a brilliant victory in the honourable
Fatherland Liberation War as soon as possible.
All the people in the rear must further consolidate the home front,
promptly repair the roads and bridges damaged by the enemy, increase
the production of munitions and provisions so as to satisfy the growing
demands of the front in time and ensure victory in the battlefield, and at
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the same time give increased support to the families of the People’s
Army soldiers.
Factory workers should produce more weapons and ammunition,
transport workers should carry munitions to the front quickly by racing
against time, and peasants should harvest in season and pay the tax in
kind in time braving enemy air-raids to supply more food to the front
and rear.
All the people at the home front must heighten their vigilance,
uncover secret enemy agents, subverters and saboteurs opportunely
and deal mercilessly with them in accordance with the wartime laws
and decrees.
We Korean people are not fighting alone in the war against the US
imperialist invaders and their stooges, the traitorous Syngman Rhee
clique. In their just struggle to defend the independence, freedom and
honour of their country, the Korean people are receiving fervent
international encouragement and support from the peoples of the
Soviet Union and many People’s Democracies and also from the
peace-loving people the world over. This international support and
encouragement inspires us with great strength in our struggle and gives
our people greater confidence in victory. Victory belongs to the
Korean people who are fighting in a just cause.
Glory to the heroic Korean people, the officers and men of the
valiant People’s Army, their armed forces, and the men and women
guerrillas, honourably fighting against the American imperialist
invaders!
Let us march forward to destroy and drive out of our land the US
imperialist invaders and the traitorous Syngman Rhee clique, their
stooges, to the last man, as soon as possible, the enemies who encroach
upon the independence, freedom and honour of our country and upon
the rights of our people!
Long live the Korean people unified under the banner of the DPRK!
Long live the heroic People’s Army, the armed forces of the Korean
people!
Long live the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea!
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ON IMPROVING COMMUNICATIONS
TO SUIT THE WARTIME CONDITIONS
Concluding Speech at the 26th Plenary Meeting
of the Cabinet of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
September 15, 1950
The plenary meeting of the Cabinet today discussed ways of
improving communications and a number of other problems. I would
like to stress a few points on improving communications in keeping
with the wartime conditions.
As we often say, communications form the network of nerves of a
country. Just as nerves play an important part in a man’s action,
communications perform a major function in the activity of a state. A
man cannot do anything properly, if his nerves are not working.
Similarly, the state cannot function properly, if its communications
system is paralysed. Improving this service is absolutely necessary for
success in all state affairs-political, economic, cultural, military and
other activities-and particularly in ensuring victory in a war.
Communications workers should feel highly honoured in being
entrusted with the nation’s nerve and strive to perform their duties well
specially during wartime.
They should, above all, ensure prompt and accurate telegraph and
telephone communications.
This is an important requirement of modem warfare.
A modem war requires a high degree of mobility. It can be said that
the outcome of a war depends on the mobility of combat troops, their
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weapons, equipment and supplies. So it is of paramount importance in
a modem war to guarantee swift and accurate communications to
facilitate prompt movement of soldiers, their weapons, equipment and
supplies.
If prompt telegraph and telephone communications are to be
maintained, the signal equipment damages caused by enemy bombing
and bombardment should be repaired quickly.
At present the enemy is intensifying air and artillery attacks on
communications facilities in an attempt to paralyse our command
system. So if we do not repair the damages quickly, we shall not be
able to carry on successful operations of the command network both at
the front and in the rear.
The Ministry of Communications, however, is repairing these
facilities very carelessly.
Officials of the ministry, to begin with, were conservative in
forming the communication-lines rehabilitation coips. They have
organized only one company of this type ever since the outbreak of the
war. They say this was due to manpower shortage. That is only an
excuse. Can they not find even the manpower to perform such a task,
however the shortage is acute? It was entirely due to their negligence
of organizing activity.
The consequences of their conservatism in organizing the
rehabilitation coips are very serious. Failure to repair the damaged
lines quickly hampered command-communications seriously both at
the front and in the rear. Worse still, sometimes it resulted in
paralysing telegraph and telephone communications between the
centre and North and South Hamgyong Provinces for almost a score of
days on end.
For efficient telegraph and telephone communications, the
rehabilitation corps should be reinforced drastically. The Ministry of
Communications should organize another company for the northern
half of Korea and form an appropriate number for the south, after a
survey of the different conditions there and in keeping with the specific
situation.
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The ministry should instruct the members of the communication
lines rehabilitation coips properly so as to increase their efficiency and
make them responsible workers. It should also help them actively to
play their role satisfactorily and provide them with adequate telephone
lines, communications equipment, materials and mobile means so that
they can do the repair work without a hitch.
In order to ensure telegraph and telephone services, it is necessary
to supply in time the signal appliances and equipment required at the
front and in the rear.
Signal appliances and equipment are the basic means of telegraph
and telephone communications. Without them telegraph and telephone
communications would be impossible, no matter how quickly their
lines are repaired. We are now short of these appliances and
equipment, but not in a position to import them right now either. We
should meet the demand at the front and in the rear on our own by all
means.
If they explore latent reserves to the full in a high spirit of
self-reliance, the communications workers will be able to resolve the
problem of signal equipment.
At present many of these appliances are lying in a damaged
condition at the front. If all of them are collected and made usable
again, the shortage will be overcome considerably. The officials of the
Communications Ministry should take steps to collect such equipment
for later use. At the same time, they should strive to make new ones for
themselves. The communications equipment factory in Seoul, if run
properly, will be able to manufacture a number of signal equipment.
Communication-relay stations should be moved to safe places and
equipped properly.
The Pyongyang-Kumchon relay stations along roads and railways
should be moved quickly to mountainous areas. Of course, this project
requires plenty of funds, materials and labour. But the relay stations at
their present spots are open to heavy air raids of the enemy. So this
project should be finished as soon as possible.
The Ministry of Communications says that it can finish this project
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within the set period if it is provided with materials and manpower. We
should comply with its request. Materials, funds, civil engineers and
labour should be provided by the State Planning Commission, Ministry
of Finance, Ministry of City Management and provincial people’s
committees respectively. This project should be carried out under the
order of the Military Commission in view of its great importance and
urgency.
Next, postal communication should be guaranteed.
Newspapers and other publications are not being delivered properly
to the liberated areas. Leading officials of the Communications
Ministry have not taken any steps to improve the delivery of
publications. This has been unsatisfactory since the outbreak of the
Fatherland Liberation War two months back. Only now they have
requested for mail vans. They say that letters have not been delivered
because there were no mail vans, a lame excuse.
These shortcomings persist because they have no clear
understanding of the importance of postal service. Postal service is not
a mere business delivering publications or letters. It is an honourable
and worthwhile mission as it contributes to the education of the people
and promotes their convenience. Moreover, maintaining a good postal
service during a war means a battle by nature and is particularly
important. It encourages soldiers of the People’s Army and the people
to a burning hatred for US imperialism and to wiping out the enemy.
If they are to improve postal service, they should establish closer
li nks with the Ministries of Transport and National Defence and others.
They should maintain close contact especially with the Transport and
National Defence Ministries and arrange for bogies carrying mail to be
attached to both civilian and military train s .
Mail should be dispatched by vans to some areas of the northern
half of Korea, Seoul and the provincial seats in the south, where train
services have been disrupted because of railway damages from
bombing of the US imperialist air pirates. The Road Transport
Management Bureau of the Ministry of Transport should take the
responsibility of dispatching mail by car.
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Next, communications workers should also be trained well.
This is always important in developing communications services
and all the more so during war. At present there is a great demand both
at the front and in the rear for communications workers qualified
politically and ideologically, technically and practically. But there are
not so many competent signal workers as to meet the present
requirements. This is a considerable obstacle to our communications
services.
Officials in the Ministry of Communications should have trained
signal workers with foresight to provide against the daily worsening
situation in our country. But they did not do it. They did not even
evolve a long-term training plan in concrete terms. Still less did they
think of training communications workers for the Ministries of
National Defence and the Interior. In consequence, they failed to meet
the great demand of those ministries for signal men when the
Fatherland Liberation War broke out. Even those who were enlisted in
the service are not efficient. The Ministry of Communications has not
trained even switchboard operators properly during the five years since
liberation.
The Ministry of Communications should make every effort to train
signal workers more and better. It should not train any people
randomly since they are to handle communication of important
information of the Party and the state directly. It should select fine
persons who are ideologically sound as well as hardworking and train
them to be communications workers.
The Ministry of Communications should educate the trainees
effectively. Their politico-ideological education and technical training
should be strengthened so that they will become excellent
communications workers equipped with sound ideology and highly
qualified technically.
Political and ideological education for communications workers
should be intensified.
Without raising the level of their ideological consciousness steadily
in this way, they will be unable to improve communications services to
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suit the wartime conditions and discharge their duties satisfactorily.
At present, communications workers have a very low level of
ideological awareness; they do not seem to love their country enough
in particular. Since the outbreak of the war a large number of ardent
patriots have emerged in other areas but very few in the field of
communications. Railway workers are ensuring wartime transport
even under heavy enemy bombing displaying the spirit of
self-sacrifice. In contrast, communications workers did not do properly
even what they could, and this seriously affected wartime
communications. If they had worked with fervent patriotism like the
railway workers, they would have ensured wartime communications.
Political and ideological education should be given to all
communications workers so that they ensure wartime communications
service with fervent patriotism and staunch fighting spirit.
The Minister, Vice-Ministers and other officials of the Ministry of
Communications should enhance their sense of responsibility and role.
They are leadership personnel responsible to the state and people
for communications service of the country. The prompt and correct
implementation of the communications policy of the Party and the
Government depends entirely on their efforts. So, if they are to
improve communications, they must decisively increase their sense of
responsibility and role.
So far, they have not striven to carry out the communications policy
of the Party and the Government; they have not worked in a manner of
masters.
When the US imperialists were rearming the Japanese militarists
and instigating the puppet Syngman Rhee’s clique to frequent military
provocations against the north around the 38th Parallel, we foresaw
that the enemy would unleash an aggressive war sooner or later against
the northern half of Korea and urged the officials of the
Communications Ministry more than once to develop communications
with foresight. But they did not prepare themselves well to meet the
nation’s requirement in case of emergency. So, when the Fatherland
Liberation War broke out, they, unlike in other branches, failed to gear
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up communications on a war footing at once as required by the Party
and go on working to suit the wartime conditions. They went on
whiling away the time. The Minister of Communications committed a
serious crime by not contributing to attainment of victory in the war.
The Minister, Vice-Ministers and other leading officials of the
Ministry of Communications have not worked like masters from the
standpoint of the state. The Minister should be held responsible before
the state and the people for his failure to ensure proper
communications during war.
He is not enthusiastic about his work, nor does he feel very
repentant about the inefficient communications service. If they find
knotty problems in their work, leadership officials of other ministries
bring them up in time for solution. But he has never asked the Cabinet
for guidance and assistance, although his ministry is not following the
right path. He did not even attach much importance to this Cabinet
meeting though he was told that it would take up the matters relating to
his ministry.
The leadership officials of this ministry should seriously criticize
themselves for their own shortcomings in the past and work
responsibly in future.
They should thoroughly establish a revolutionary habit of carrying
out state decisions and directives without reservation.
Besides, they should plan their work in detail, take in hand all the
ministerial affairs, give them a coordinated guidance and do their job
effectively. If the Minister and Vice-Ministers each works in his own
way, they will not be able to carry out the task allocated to the ministry.
The Minister should give detailed assignments to his Vice-Ministers
and other subordinates and properly guide and help them to carry them
out.
I firmly believe that the officials of the Ministry of
Communications will strive to improve wartime communications
service and contribute greatly to an ultimate victory in the Fatherland
Liberation War.
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TEMPORARY STRATEGIC RETREAT AND
THE TASKS OF PARTY ORGANIZATIONS
Speech at a Consultative Meeting of Provincial
Party Committee Chairmen
September 27, 1950
Today I would like to speak to you comrades about some
immediate tasks of the Party organizations in regard to temporary
strategic retreat.
The military and political situation in our country today has taken a
sudden turn, and our people find themselves in a crisis.
The US imperialist aggressors, hard hit by the counterattack of the
People’s Army, are escalating their aggressive war by pouring in huge
armed forces and war materiel in an attempt to recover from their
heavy defeat and, at the same time, to realize their aggressive aim of
occupying the whole of Korea at any cost. They have thrown all their
ground, naval and air forces in the Pacific area into the Korean front
and brought in part of their Mediterranean Fleet and even troops of
Britain, France and other satellite countries. On the last 13th the US
imperialists launched a large-scale landing operation at Inchon with
hundreds of warships, some 1,000 planes and a force of over 50,000
troops. At present, they are making a frantic attack in the Seoul area.
The enemy is attempting to take the area including Inchon, Seoul and
Wonju in order to cut off our front from the rear and encircle and
destroy the main force of the People’s Army at the front and then
occupy the whole of Korea as quickly as possible.
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The men and officers of the People’s Army are fighting heroically
to repel the massive invading enemy forces. Displaying a noble spirit
of patriotism and mass heroism, in defence of the Inchon-Seoul area,
they have been holding up enemy advance for several days despite his
numerical and technical superiority, in particular, those manning the
coastal artillery battery on Wolmi Island gave a do-or-die battle to the
enemy who outnumbered them scores or even hundreds of times over
and dealt him a heavy blow, even fighting him hand-to-hand.
The people are also fighting heroically in support of the People’s
Army. The Seoul citizens, men and women, young and old, are all out
to carry ammunition and cook meals for our soldiers even under the
rain of bullets.
The situation at the front, however, has turned unfavourable to us
on account of the massive enemy invasion of the Inchon-Seoul area
and his switchover to a large-scale counterattack on the Raktong River
line. This has caused a marked disparity in the balance of forces
between the two sides. We are fighting against heavy odds without
adequately organized reserves and necessary weapons and equipment.
In this military and political situation, the Party Central Committee
has put forward a policy of organizing a temporary strategic retreat in
order to tide over the difficulty flexibly.
Our Party’s strategic policy at the present stage is to delay the
enemy’s advance as much as possible in order to gain time and thus
save the main force of the People’s Army, and organize fresh reserves
with which to form powerful counteroffensive forces, while organizing
a planned retreat.
According to the Party’s strategic policy, the People’s Army units
which are to retreat after fighting in the Seoul area will build strong
defences along the 38th Parallel and contain the enemy attacks so as to
ensure the evacuation of the main force, a part of which will remain in
the occupied area, attacking and harassing the enemy ceaselessly from
the rear. And at the same time, on the home front reserve forces will be
formed and regrouping and reinforcement will be effected as quickly
as possible by turning all conditions and possibilities to good account.
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We are not retreating just for the sake of retreat but with a strategic
aim of strengthening our forces and dealing still heavier blows at the
enemy.
The world’s attention is now focussed on the Korean front. Many
military experts and people of the world are watching the action of our
People’s Army, concerned about the possibility of its main force
breaking through the “encirclement” by the Americans.
Gloating over the “encirclement” of the main force of the People’s
Army, the US imperialist aggressors are bragging that they will win.
But the enemy is doomed to failure and his delight will change into
grief.
The “encirclement” noisily advertised by the enemy is only in
name. It covers such a wide area that the enemy is not in a position to
follow it up. In this area are the men and officers of the main force of
the People’s Army. They are boundlessly loyal to the Party and the
country and firmly determined to wipe out the enemy. In particular, the
commanding officers include many of the veterans who were tempered
in the anti-Japanese armed struggle. They had broken through many an
encirclement of the enemy in those years of arduous and trying battles
against the Japanese. When they were surrounded by large enemy
forces, commanding officers of the anti-Japanese guerrillas used to
break through boldly even with small forces and deal the enemy
crushing blows. Likewise, the commanding officers of the People’s
Army will lead their units skilfully out of enemy “encirclement”,
ensure the organized retreat and defeat and destroy the enemy more
decisively. Breaches have already been made in some parts of the
front, and the organized retreat of the People’s Army units is under
way.
Party organizations at all levels should strive in every way to carry
out the Party’s policy on strategic retreat.
The temporary strategic retreat will be a harsh trial for our Party and
people. We shall have to fight fierce battles to frustrate the enemy
attack while, at the same time, ensuring the organized retreat of the
main force and also evacuating production facilities and other
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materials to safe places under the enemy’s ceaseless indiscriminate
bombing. So the People’s Army and the rest of the people will have to
overcome a great deal of hardships and obstacles. But we must brave
all these trials and carry out the Party’s policy on strategic retreat,
come what may.
In this connection, the Party organizations should first strengthen
information and political education among the people.
This is the primary duty of the Party organizations. This task is all
the more urgent under the present situation where we have to overcome
severe trials of strategic retreat. Only when education for the people is
intensified, will they be able to fight on unwaveringly in any adversity.
What is important in political education is to give the people a firm
faith in victory.
When the People’s Amy was advancing south like a surging wave,
quite a few people believed that the war would end very soon. If they
see their army retreat, they might lose confidence in victory and think
that it is all over with us.
Party organizations should get to know clearly the people’s political
and ideological mood and educate them positively and suitably lest
they should be frightened and confused. It is of particular importance
to explain to them clearly our Party’s policy on strategic retreat. A war
presupposes both attack and retreat. This can be likened to a football
match. In this game, if one side gets off balance being hard pressed by
the opposing team, it falls back to recoup and then presses forward by
seizing upon a favourable chance. Party organizations should imbue
the people with the validity and significance of the Party’s policy on
strategic retreat so that they will fight on courageously, riding out the
difficulties in retreat, with a firm faith in victory.
You must always remember that in this national crisis the US
imperialists and hostile elements lurking in our ra nks may spread all
sorts of false rumours in a crafty way. Party organizations at all levels
should sharpen their vigilance still further and expose and crush the
enemy’s sly manoeuvres in time to prevent him from deceiving the
people. In this way the whole people will be led to tide over the grim
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trials of strategic retreat without the slightest confusion.
In addition, Party organizations should educate the people properly
to help the retreating People’s Army with all their love and care. All
the people should be encouraged to help the retreating soldiers like
their own children and brothers, carrying loads for them, offering them
lodgings and meals and taking care of the wounded.
Next, the Party organizations must get fully ready to fight the
invading enemy.
Our cardinal task today is to defend every inch of the country even
at the cost of our blood. We must not fall back without resistance to the
invaders; we must defend our home towns and villages to the last. This
is the noble duty of every Party organization and its workers.
Party bodies and their workers, the chairmen of provincial Party
committees in particular, must not leave the area under their
jurisdiction even if the enemy occupies it. They should go
underground, guide guerrilla actions and mobilize the people in the
struggle against the enemy. When the People’s Army forces advance
again, they should join them in liberating the occupied areas and
normalize all work promptly.
To this end, all Party organizations should form combatant forces,
prepare weapons and arrange many other material conditions.
Especially in the coastal provinces they should dig trenches and build
up defences of various types near the shores where enemy landing is
possible. If he attempts a landing, they should throw him into the sea,
even by rolling stones upon him. When direct confrontation becomes
unfavourable and the enemy forces his way through, they should
switch over to guerrilla warfare.
Perhaps, you think a guerrilla action is something mysterious. But it
is not. There is no mystery about it. Anybody can do it. You may be
short of weapons for guerrilla actions and may find it difficult to
command battles. But weapons you can capture from the enemy, and
leadership you will acquire gradually in the course of action.
Our country is mountainous, and this is very favourable to guerrilla
warfare. One can see mountains in every province and in every county.
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In particular, Mt. Kuwol in Hwanghae Province, the Masik and
Rangnim Ranges and their foothills will provide excellent conditions
for guerrilla warfare. They will serve as bases for active guerrilla war.
The point is how the Party organizations at all levels organize Party
members and the rest of the people.
All Party organizations should rouse their members and other
people to bold guerrilla action. They should raid and destroy enemy
headquarters, cut off his supply lines, play havoc with his means of
communications and bum down his munition depots and military
installations. They should thus throw the enemy into confusion and
panic at all times by ceaseless harassing actions from behind.
Party organizations at all levels should also organize underground
activities meticulously. Competent workers and Party members should
be dispatched to enemy-held areas on a mission to educate the people,
collect secret information about the enemy and disrupt him from
within. This is the way to rouse the people to a dynamic struggle, foil
the enemy attempt at every step and deal him still heavier blows.
To continue. An orderly withdrawal of provincial Party and state
bodies should be organized, and the evacuation of production facilities
and all materials arranged properly.
A well-organized evacuation will prevent the loss of state property,
ensure the preparation for a second counteroffensive, wartime
production and economic rehabilitation in the future. Evacuation is a
difficult and complicated task involving a colossal amount of work and
requiring secrecy and swiftness. So all the Party organizations should
arrange it in all details. It should be hastened and finished before the
enemy arrives.
First of all, major equipment of factories and other enteiprises in
provinces should be moved to safe places.
There are important industrial establishments with plenty of
valuable equipment in each province. In South Hamgyong Province,
for instance, are the five important factories of the Hungnam district
and many other major industrial enterprises. If we leave such
equipment behind, the invaders will surely use them or carry them
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away. We can never leave them at the mercy of the enemy.
All Party organizations should ensure that important industrial
equipment is evacuated to safety as much as possible or water-proofed
and buried in case evacuation is impossible. The nation’s priceless
equipment should thus be saved from falling into the hands of the
enemy or getting damaged.
Food grain and other strategic materials should also be evacuated
properly. In particular, the state provisions in granaries and rice mills
should be quickly removed to safe places lest a single grain should fall
into the hands of the enemy.
Party organizations should pay close attention to the arrangement
for the retreat and evacuation of the people.
The US imperialist aggressors will perpetrate all sorts of
atrocities-arresting, imprisoning and butchering innocent people in
sight at all places under their dirty jackboots. Many people, therefore,
may be killed if such arrangement is neglected. All the Party units
should get down to the organization of the people’s retreat and
evacuation and carry it out without the slightest deviation.
Next, strenuous efforts should be made to ensure wartime
production.
We should not suspend or neglect wartime production because of
the retreat. Without continuous production, we can neither prepare for
the counteroffensive nor stabilize the livelihood of the people. So we
must ensure the retreat and at the same time intensify the struggle for
increased production.
Party organizations at all levels should make sure that industrial
equipment and facilities are reinstalled in safe places to resume
production. In this way, weapons, ammunition, hand grenades, and
daily necessities for the people will be produced everywhere. In those
years of the anti-Japanese armed struggle we built up a small arsenal,
where we manufactured the “Yongil” bombs and repaired weapons.
Our production facilities now are incomparably better than those we
had at that time, and our working conditions, too, are much better.
Therefore, if only our officials organize work efficiently, they can
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produce plenty of weapons and ammunition and ensure continued
production even under wartime conditions.
In the countryside harvesting and threshing should be rushed so that
not a grain is lost to the enemy.
Success in the difficult work of the Party organizations at all levels
depends entirely on the work attitude and standpoint of the provincial
Party committee chairmen. When confronted with a difficult task,
subordinates first look up to their commanders. At this time when the
country is in a crisis and when arduous and complex fighting tasks are
encountered, your subordinates will look up to you comrades and
watch your action.
Upon your return, you comrades should plan and organize the
retreat with composure, deal with urgent and complex problems
correctly and swiftly, and push forward your work more audaciously.
This will inspire your subordinates with confidence in victory and
encourage them to work properly and ensure success in the difficult
strategic retreat.
There is every indication that our retreat will not last too long, say, a
month or month and a half at the most.
Although we are making a temporary strategic retreat now, we will
administer even heavier blows at the enemy in the near future. Victory
belongs to our people who are fighting in defence of the freedom and
independence of the country from the enemy’s encroachment. We will
emerge victorious without fail because we have the wise leadership of
the Workers’ Party of Korea, the heroic People’s Army and people
united closely around the Party, and a solid home front.
I firmly believe that you comrades will carry out the difficult task of
strategic retreat successfully, displaying unswerving loyalty to the
Party, the country and the people and a high degree of self-sacrificing
spirit, with a firm faith in victory.
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LET US DEFEND EVERY INCH OF OUR
MOTHERLAND AT THE COST OF OUR BLOOD
Radio Address to All the Korean People
October 11, 1950
Dear fellow countrymen,
Brothers and sisters,
Officers and men of the heroic People’s Army,
Valiant men and women guerrillas,
The American gangsters are still invading Korea in an attempt to
colonize our country and enslave our 30 million people.
The US imperialists have sustained hard blows and heavy losses of
strength but are nevertheless launching a large-scale offensive by
mobilizing all their Pacific forces.
Our People’s Army has thus been compelled to undertake a
strategic retreat while still fighting the enemy. Today our frontline
situation is serious. Our country is in great danger.
Alarmed by the crushing defeat of the Syngman Rhee clique, their
stooges, and at the sudden collapse of their reactionary ruling system,
the US imperialists started an overt invasion against the Korean people
following a premeditated scheme.
US imperialist armed intervention in Korea aims to make our
country their colony, enslave the Korean people and to turn Korea into
a strategic base for suppressing the national-liberation struggle of the
Asian peoples and invading China and the Soviet Union.
The US imperialists are usurping the name of UN with a view to
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covering their aggression on Korea. They clamour that their troops in
Korea are acting on the “resolution” of the UN Security Council.
Actually, their armed intervention in Korea had started before this
“resolution” was adopted and the “resolution” itself is null and void; it
was adopted without the participation of representatives of the Soviet
Union and the People’s Republic of China, the permanent member
nations of the UN Security Council, to say nothing of the Korean
people’s representation.
The US imperialist robbers, under the UN flag, are soaking our land
with blood, committing all sorts of atrocities. The US air and naval
craft are burning down our peaceful towns and villages and destroying
industrial enterprises at random, all of which have been constructed by
the sweat and blood of the Korean people. These aggressors are
indiscriminately massacring the inhabitants, men and women, young
and old. who are peacefully living in our land. In flagrant violation of
the UN Charter and in disregard of the international law and the
standards of human morality, they are trying most brutally to break the
indomitable fighting spirit of the Korean people, who are headed
towards freedom and independence.
No frenzied effort on their part, however, will be able to conquer
the Korean people, who are fighting the aggressors as one, in a sacred
war to liberate the country and win its freedom and independence, nor
will it be able to frustrate the patriotic struggle of our valiant People’s
Army, guerrillas and the rest of the people in the rear.
The US imperialist aggressor forces were in the critical position of
being wiped out from our land, having lost one battle after another,
confronted with the angry waves of the counterattack of the heroic
People’s Army. In this situation, they undertook a frantic offensive, by
mobilizing all their Pacific ground, naval and air forces, part of their
Mediterranean Fleet and even their reserve warships, in an attempt to
recover their lost prestige and realize their aggressive aim at all costs.
Bringing hundreds of thousands of troops to the Korean front, the
US imperialist aggressors all of a sudden landed over 50,000 troops at
Inchon, on September 16. Several hundred naval vessels and
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approximately 1,000 aircraft took part in this landing operation. The
enemy attempted to capture Seoul with one stroke. But they could not
succeed easily in this attempt. The People’s Army, with the support of
Seoul citizens and the People’s Volunteers Corps, held the
overwhelming enemy attack in check for 14 days, showing an example
of unparalleled patriotic devotion and heroism.
The enemy also became dominant in other sectors of the front.
Under the circumstances, our People’s Army had to make a
strategic retreat. The situation at the front is grave. The enemy is
crossing the 38th Parallel into the north.
Invading the northern area of Korea across the 38th Parallel, seriously
threatening peace and security in Asia, the US imperialists have also
turned down another proposal of the Soviet Government aimed at a
peaceful settlement of the Korean question. The proposal made by the
Soviet delegate at the UN General Assembly session was to terminate
military action, effect withdrawal of foreign troops from Korean territory
and peacefully reunify the country by holding free north-south general
elections. It fully concurs with the interests of the Korean people. The US
imperialists, however, rejected even this proposal with the help of their
pliant voting machine and continue their war of plunder.
While extending their invasion in Korea, the US imperialists are
becoming more and more open in their brutal, marauding acts against the
people. They are blatantly revealing their frue nature as being the most
vicious enemy of both the Korean and the rest of the Asian peoples.
Most sacred and righteous is the war our people are waging against
the US imperialist aggressors to defend the freedom and independence
of the country, to bring happiness to our future generations, and to
prevent being enslaved again by the colonialists.
As history shows, the course of the people’s struggle for the great
cause of the freedom and independence of their country is not smooth. A
struggle can forge ahead through successful efforts and incidental
setbacks. This can be illustrated by the experience of struggle of the
Soviet people. After the Great October Socialist Revolution, the
imperialist armed interventionists including the United States, Britain
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and France invaded the young Soviet Republics in an attempt to stamp
them out. At that time the armed interventionists pressed the centre of
Russia hard in a narrow encirclement and believed that they would win
before long. But the Soviet people repelled them and emerged victorious
in their arduous struggle against the allied forces of imperialism, and
safeguarded the freedom and independence of their motherland.
The same is true of the struggle of the Chinese people. Imperialists
and Chinese reactionaries thought that they could suppress the
resistance movement of the Chinese people for the freedom and
independence of their country. But the Chinese people defeated the
domestic reactionaries and the imperialist forces of aggression and led
the revolution to triumph in the end.
Doomed imperialism makes every vicious attempt to turn back the
wheel of history. This attempt was made in vain in Russia. The same
was repeated in China, but it was also futile. At present imperialism is
trying to enslave the Korean people. But this time also, the aggressive
design of piratical American imperialism will inevitably fail.
The Korean people are displaying incomparable bravery and
heroism in the fierce struggle against the US imperialist aggressors.
Their unparalleled courage and indomitable fighting spirit, manifested
in their sacred all-out war of national liberation for the freedom and
independence of their country, are not at all derived from any transient
and incidental factors. These traits stem from an unswerving
determination of our people never to yield their country to imperialists
again, never to be enslaved again-from their bitter experience of the
long years of slavery under Japanese imperialism. These qualities
come from a keen awareness that the national-liberation struggle
against imperialist aggression alone will bring freedom and
independence to their country and happiness and prosperity to
themselves and to posterity.
The Korean people, who are fully ready to devote everything to the
liberation of their country and fellow countrymen and convinced of the
righteousness of their cause, will courageously overcome whatever
difficulties and trials they meet with, to win a brilliant victory without
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fail. Today, we have all factors, which will lead us to victory, in our
favour. Victory will surely be ours.
The three months of war have proved clearly what tremendous
strength our people have. Our people rose up in the struggle against the
US imperialist aggressors and their stooges, the traitorous Syngman
Rhee clique, to defend the freedom and independence of the country
and the results of democratic reforms, to win for themselves happiness
and a bright future, and to avoid repeating the bitter experience of
being homeless people. They have clearly demonstrated their united
strength and unbreakable fighting spirit to the whole world.
Dear fellow countrymen,
Valiant officers and men of the People’s Army and guerrillas,
We must fight more resolutely with an indomitable fighting spirit,
in order to ride out the current national crisis, repel the aggressors and
save the country and the people.
The officers and men of the People’s Army should courageously
struggle to the last drop of their blood to defend every inch of our
motherland and safeguard our towns and villages. We should thus take
a thousand-fold revenge upon the US imperialist aggressors and the
traitorous Syngman Rhee clique, for the massacre of our parents and
brothers, and defend the results of our democratic reforms.
Transport and communications workers should reorganize their
work to suit the prevailing situation, quickly repair the roads and lines
damaged by enemy bombing, protect the means of transport and
communications and accurately ensure the supply of all materials
meant for the front. The workers should work against time to increase
the production of weapons and ammunition, so as to meet the
requirements of the front. The peasants should increase their crop
yields to supply enough provisions to the front and rear and take good
care of the harvested crops and deliver the tax in kind in time.
The peasants in south Korea should continue fighting bravely
against the US imperialist aggressors to defend the gains of the
agrarian reform and liberate the country.
All the people should harass the enemy from behind. In case they
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have to retreat, they should evacuate all materials and means of railway
transport, lest a single locomotive or freight car or even a single grain
of rice should be captured by the enemy.
In the enemy-occupied areas widespread guerrilla actions should be
launched, destroying enemy headquarters by surprise attacks, cutting
off roads, bridges and other supply lines everywhere, demolishing their
means of communications such as telegraph and telephone facilities
and setting fire to their depots and war materials.
Everyone should be highly vigilant, promptly expose and crush
spies, subverters and saboteurs on their penetration into our home front
and launch an uncompromising struggle against those who spread false
rumours, cowards and shirkers.
All the Korean people should devote all their efforts to the victory
of the Fatherland Liberation War and assist the People’s Army in every
possible way.
The Korean people are not alone in their struggle for the freedom
and independence of the country. All the officers and men of the
People’s Army, guerrillas behind enemy lines and all the Korean
people should understand that their struggle in the great cause is
actively supported and aided by the peoples of the Soviet Union,
Chinese People’s Republic and other People’s Democracies and has
the unanimous sympathy of all progressive mankind.
The most important task confronting us today is to defend every
inch of the homeland at the cost of our blood and prepare ourselves
fully to deal a fresh, decisive blow to the enemy. We should wipe out
the foreign interventionists and the Syngman Rhee clique from our
land once and for all.
People of entire Korea, hold high the banner of the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea, the banner of victory!
Glory to the heroic Korean People’s Army!
Glory to the guerrillas fighting courageously behind enemy lines!
Long live the heroic Korean people who are fighting against the US
imperialist aggressors for the freedom, independence and honour of
the country!
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ON FORMING WORKERS’ PARTY
OF KOREA ORGANIZATIONS
IN THE PEOPLE’S ARMY
Concluding Speech Delivered at a Meeting
of the Political Committee of the Central Committee
of the Workers' Party of Korea
October 21, 1950
Comrades,
The Political Co mm ittee of the Party Central Committee this time
has discussed and decided on the problem of forming organizations of
the Workers’ Party of Korea in the People’s Army.
No Party organizations have so far existed in the People’s Army
except for military academies and some units. In the army the cultural
department has been responsible for cultural education of soldiers and
for work with the Party members. After the war was started by US
imperialism and its stooges, our Party dispatched military commissars
to the People’s Army in order to strengthen Party leadership and
political education in accordance with the wartime conditions. Cultural
department workers and military co mm issars played a big role in
educating the army men politically, ideologically and in a cultured
way.
Because there were no Party organizations in the People’s Army,
however, we could not exercise effective Party leadership over the
army and work properly to strengthen the fighting capacity of the
troops.
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In the process of the war, particularly during our retreat, we keenly
felt the necessity of forming Party organizations and enhancing their
role in the army.
Introducing Party organizations into the People’s Army is an
important guarantee for establishing iron discipline in the army and
increasing its combat efficiency.
Our People’s Army firmly defended the democratic gains against
the enemy’s encroachment in the period of peaceful construction, and
displayed unbounded devotion, heroism and fortitude in the war to
defend the freedom, independence and honour of the country. The
brave officers and men ensured success in strategic retreat led by the
Party, overcoming manifold hardships without losing confidence in
victory even under the difficult conditions of retreat. Our army has
grown up into a powerful force which has been further tempered and
has accumulated rich combat experience through attack and retreat.
During the war the People’s Army achieved great victory and other
successes but revealed quite a few shortcomings, too. Some of the
soldiers wavered, losing confidence in victory in the face of temporary
difficulties. There were instances of indiscipline and disorder in the
army and some unit commanders and officers hardly made any efforts
to carry out orders and instructions to the letter. Such intolerable
practices were strongly manifested among many army men in charge
of supply service.
To strengthen army discipline and raise its fighting capacity is our
important task at present, in order to wipe out the US imperialist
aggressors and win victory, we should further tighten army discipline
and increase its combat efficiency in every way.
But now shortcomings in the army are not properly criticized and,
therefore, they are not rectified quickly. This is mainly because the
army has no Party organization. Orders alone cannot strengthen
discipline and order or raise combat efficiency. Forming Party
organizations in the People’s Aimy and increasing their role is
imperative for stronger army discipline, its greater fighting capacity
and its final victory in the war.
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Establishment of Party organizations in the People’s Army is also
vital for heightening our Party’s leading role in the army and
conducting vigorous political education of soldiers.
It is our Party’s consistent policy to intensify its leading role and
political education in the army. Ever since the foundation of the
People’s Army, our Party has deeply concerned about this.
The present military and political situation in our country and the
actual state of the People’s Army urgently demand that we strengthen
the Party’s leading role in the army and conduct political education
among the soldiers more vigorously.
Owing to the large-scale armed intervention by the US imperialist
aggressors, the Fatherland Liberation War has taken on a protracted
character and situation at the front is very acute.
According to our Party’s strategic policy many reserve forces were
mustered, with the result that the People’s Army has quickly grown in
number. What is most important in improving the quality of such an
army strength is to intensify the Party’s leading role and firmly equip
the servicemen politically and ideologically.
The formation of Party organizations .in the People’s Army fully
accords with its intrinsic nature and mission.
The People’s Army is a revolutionary armed force founded by our
Party; it is entrusted with a mission of guaranteeing the Party’s
revolutionary cause by force of arms. That is why the People’s Army
should be led only by the Workers’ Party of Korea, and in the army
there can be no other Party organization than ours.
With a view to intensifying Party leadership over the People’s
Army, we should introduce Party organizations into the army units and
set up political organs.
We should reorganize the Cultural Training Bureau of the Ministry
of National Defence into the General Political Bureau and the cultural
departments at all echelons into political departments, and set up a post
of assistant commander in charge of political affairs in every unit and
element. We should organize a Party cell in the company, a battalion
Party committee in the battalion and a regimental Party committee in
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the regiment and ensure that Party organizations are guided by the
political departments concerned. It is advisable to set up ad hoc
committees at the division, the corps and the General Political Bureau
levels so that they discuss and decide on Party organizational
problems.
The relevant department of the Party Central Committee should
quickly work out detailed regulations necessary for setting up Party
organizations and political organs in the People’s Army and deal with
the appointment of cadres properly. They should register Party
members and distribute Party force in the army correctly.
We should form Party organizations and political organs in the
People’s Army and conduct the elections to Party leadership bodies at
all levels on a high political and ideological level. In this way we
should make this undertaking serve as an important political work
strengthening military-political training and establishing military
discipline in the army.
The formation of Party units and political organs in the army will
greatly contribute to further strengthening its fighting capacity and
ensuring victory in the war, by equipping the soldiers politically and
ideologically and enhancing the vanguard role of Party members. This
alone, however, is not enough to solve every question.
Once Party organizations and political organs are established in the
People’s Army, their functions and role should be increased in every
way.
These bodies should ensure Party, political leadership over the
army so that it can acquit itself of its assignments given by our Party,
country and people.
They should, above all, intensify political education to firmly
prepare the army men ideologically.
An army ideologically unprepared cannot be strong. The source of
invincible strength of a revolutionary army lies in its soldiers’ political
and moral superiority. This is proved by our experience in the
anti-Japanese armed struggle and by those in revolutionary wars in
other countries, too.
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The army should strengthen education in Party policy to arm the
soldiers firmly with our Party’s ideology. The practices in the army of
liberalism, indiscipline and vacillation from lack of confidence in
victory are mainly due to the fact that the soldiers are not armed with
the Party’s ideology. The Party organizations and political organs in
the army should bring our Party’s line, policies, decisions and
directives home to the army men in time and accurately, so that they
think and act according to what the Party requires and devote all their
energies to carry out the Party’s policies.
We should instil into the minds of soldiers patriotic ideas with
which to faithfully serve the Party, the country and the people, and
educate them to have faith in victory. Only when they have lofty
patriotic ideas and unshaken confidence in victory, can they overcome
all difficulties and hardships and show gallantry in fighting the enemy.
Hatred for the enemy should be instilled in the mind of every
soldier. The US imperialist aggressors are making desperate efforts to
occupy the whole of Korea and make our people colonial slaves again.
They are now peipetrating the thrice-cursed atrocities killing our dear
parents and brothers at random in their occupied areas and soaking our
soil with blood.
We should clearly inform our men of the aggressive nature of US
imperialism and the barbarities it is committing in the occupied areas.
In this way they will be encouraged to nurse a strong idea of revenge
and mercilessly annihilate the US imperialist aggressors who have
sneaked their way into our land.
An important aspect of political education for the soldiers is to
teach them to implement their units’ combat assignments in good faith.
Party organizations and political workers should convince them of the
character and mission of the People’s Army, fighting tasks of their
units and their importance and rouse them energetically to render great
services in battle.
Discipline is the life and soul of an army and the source of its
combat efficiency. Party organizations and political workers should
give day-to-day education to the soldiers so that they behave as
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required by military regulations and the army manuals, and should
wage an uncompromising ideological struggle against even the
slightest infringement of discipline. An iron military discipline should
thus be established in the army.
To continue. Party organizations and political organs in the
People’s Army should strengthen Party life of the membership and
ensure that they take the lead both in battles and military-political
training.
Because of the absence of Party organization in the People’s Army,
many Party members have not been so far bound in Party
organizational life. Therefore, it is a matter of special importance to
strengthen Party organizational life in the army.
Party organizations should make all the members participate in
Party meetings and should never allow double standards of discipline
in the Party. There cannot be superior or inferior members in Party
organizational life. A dynamic struggle should be waged against those
who do not take part in Party life honestly or are reluctant to be guided
and controlled by the Party organizations, because they are
high-ranking officers. Party organizations should give assignments to
every member without exception and review their execution regularly.
Chiefs of political departments at all levels should regularly grasp
the work of Party committees and cells of the elements under their
jurisdiction and help the Party organizations in playing their part
satisfactorily. They should pay close attention to strengthening
company Party cells in particular.
The work of Party growth should be done properly in the People’s
Army.
Last August, the Organizing Committee of the Party Central
Committee adopted a decision on admitting into the Party the model
soldiers who had displayed bravery and self-sacrificing spirit in
battles. The work of increasing Party membership in the army,
however, has made little headway.
At present, the officers and men of the People’s Army are
courageously fighting with all devotion for the Party, the country and
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the people, and they regard it as the greatest happiness and honour to
become a member of the Workers’ Party of Korea. Many of them met
their last moment at the front, expressing the wish to be called the
members of this Party.
The Party organizations in the People’s Army should admit in a big
way to the Party the model fighters who fought valiantly for the Party,
the country and the people.
I firmly believe that you comrades will promote the work of
forming Party organizations and political organs in the People’s Army
on a high political and ideological level and thus make active
contribution to strengthening the army’s fighting capacity and
hastening the final victory in the Fatherland Liberation War.
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LET US BE FULLY PREPARED
FOR A NEW COUNTEROFFENSIVE
Speech at a Meeting of Officers and Generals
Assigned to the Supreme Headquarters
of the Korean People’s Army
October 30, 1950
Comrades,
The present military and political situation in our country is very
serious.
Having instigated the Syngman Rhee puppet clique to unleash an
aggressive war against the northern half of Korea, the US imperialist
aggressors have started a direct armed intervention in our country by
usurping the name of the United Nations. However, they have
sustained one crushing defeat after another in the face of the angry
waves of the advancing People’s Army. When things came to this pass,
they made desperate attempts to recover from their disastrous defeat
and attain their aggressive ends in Korea at any cost.
In mid-September, the US imperialist aggressors mobilized a large
number of armed forces and launched a landing operation at Inchon
and a large-scale counterattack on the front line along the Raktong
River. This was aimed to cut off our front line from the rear, encircle
and wipe out at a stroke the main units of the People’s Army operating
on the river and to occupy the whole area of the northern half of Korea
in a short time. As a result, the military situation turned to our
disadvantage and the enemy gained temporary ascendancy in the
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balance of forces. In those days, we were not prepared to counter their
large-scale armed intervention. We were not in a position to activate
more units though we had many who could fight with gun in hand; we
had no guns and lacked military personnel who were capable of
commanding the units. If only we had reserves of weapons and
military commanders skilled in modem warfare, we could have formed
more units. Then we would have been able to check the enemy’s
counterattack on the Raktong River line and frustrate their landing
operation at Inchon.
We did not have sufficient reserves of strategic materiel either; we
even failed to supply the materiel on hand promptly to the frontline
units.
Under these circumstances, we organized a temporary strategic
retreat. This was aimed at rescuing our main units at the front by
gaining time through delaying the enemy’s advance, and also at
dealing a decisive blow to the US imperialist aggressors by preparing
reserve units and regrouping our forces. This was a flexible and
positive strategy to meet the prevailing military situation.
Upholding the Party’s policy of a strategic retreat, the officers and
men of our heroic People’s Army successfully carried out the task of
retreat in spite of difficult conditions, dealing the enemy heavy blows
through stubborn defensive battles and surprise attacks.
Today I am not going to dwell further on the successes we have
scored in our temporary strategic retreat; I will refer instead to our
shortcomings revealed so far in the war and to our immediate tasks.
A major defect revealed during the Fatherland Liberation War is
that some people were not confident of victory.
As soon as the People’s Army started a temporary strategic retreat,
some people lost confidence in victory and vacillated: they began to
think that our Republic had been ruined and the People’s Army
defeated. What is worse, some people overrated the enemy’s
“technical superiority”; they claimed that it was difficult to fight the
enemy without planes and that they were forced to retreat because of
the shortage of planes. Complaining of the difficulty of fighting
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without aircraft is a defeatist attitude.
It is true that weapons and equipment play an important role in a
war. But they cannot decide the fate of the war. The essential factor of
a victory lies in the political and moral superiority of the soldiers. In
other words, it is not the weapons and combat equipment that play a
decisive role in the war, but the man who handles them. If all the
commanders and soldiers fight heroically with a firm faith in victory
and with an indomitable will, they can even defeat any technically
superior enemy.
A revolutionary army wins a battle not because it is superior to the
enemy numerically or technically. A revolutionary army starts a
struggle with a small number of people and trifling weapons, and yet,
in the course of the struggle its ra nks swell and it is tempered
ideologically; and, finally, it annihilates the enemy which is hundreds
of times stronger than itself and wins a final victory. In the past, the
anti-Japanese guerrillas won battles against the Japanese imperialist
aggressor troops who were armed to the teeth. This was not because
they had better weapons than the enemy. They could win because they
fought with an indomitable revolutionary spirit to defeat the Japanese
imperialist marauders and liberate the country at any cost. This shows
what is decisive in war is not weapons or equipment but the lofty
political and moral qualities of the soldiers.
You cannot win the war if you lose confidence in victory and
vacillate in the face of transient difficulties. You cannot carry out a
revolution the way you would take a royal road. In the course of a
revolution, you may encounter rugged mountain passes and thorny
bushes or face deep rivers. When you overcome these hardships
audaciously, you can win the ultimate victory of the revolution.
Therefore, a revolutionary must have an unyielding fighting spirit and
the conviction of victory. If he falls a hundred times he must rise up a
hundred times and make his way through all difficulties and devote his
all for the country and people and for revolutionary victory.
In the years of the anti-Japanese armed struggle the guerrillas
encountered many indescribable hardships. Sometimes hunger and
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cold threatened their lives; at other times the enemy launched “punitive
operations” on all sides and resorted to every kind of vile propaganda
in order to disintegrate the Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Army from within.
However, the anti-Japanese guerrillas never buckled under their
difficulties. For 15 long years, they waged an arduous struggle braving
manifold difficulties in the firm belief that the revolution would
triumph, and at long last they emerged victorious.
We are now fighting in a favourable situation incomparable with
that in the days of the anti-Japanese armed struggle. So we have no
difficulties that are insurmountable. It is not becoming to a
revolutionary to lose faith in victory and waver in the face of
momentary hardships.
Another major shortcoming is that some military commanders have
not been observing revolutionary discipline and order and have failed
to carry out the orders and instructions of their superiors in time and
accurately.
When the situation changed suddenly owing to the large-scale
armed intervention of the US imperialist aggressors, we gave an
instruction to the chief of the General Commissarial Bureau to
transport rice and cotton wool from Hwanghae Province as well as the
piles of salt at the salt farms to storage in Kanggye or Manpho. But he
took no measures to carry out this instruction. As a result a large
amount of rice, cotton wool and salt went into the hands of enemy.
Later, we gave another task to him and to the director of the Ordnance
Production Bureau-that of transferring to safe places the cotton padded
clothes, blankets and ammunition preserved in Jongju and many other
places. However, they did not strive to carry out this task.
Some departments of the Ministry of National Defence retreated
wilfully without prior approval from their superiors. A senior local
Party official did not implement the Party’s instruction to make
adequate organizational arrangement for the retreat of provincial
organizations and to mobilize the people to join hands with the
People’s Army units so that they could put up a stubborn resistance to
the attacking enemy and form guerrilla detachments to fight the enemy
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in case the province was occupied by them. He retreated before the
others. Such practices were apparent also among some People’s Army
officers.
In any adversity a revolutionary must first think of his country
and people rather than his own safety. It is definitely worthier and
prouder for one to fight the enemy bravely for the sake of the country
and people even if one has to give up his all, than to give up one’s
revolutionary honour and principles and bow down before the enemy
and live a disgraceful life. How long can a man live anyway? Even if
his life is to be short, he must live a worthy and proud life for the
country and people. A revolutionary must go to the extent of
carrying gunpowder on his back and throwing himself into the fire
without hesitation, if his country and people want him to. A man who
fights bravely at the battlefield without fear of death, does not die
easily.
Yet another major shortcoming is that the commanders and political
workers failed to conduct satisfactory political work among the
soldiers and the people.
When the People’s Army started its retreat, the enemy resorted to
all sorts of malicious propaganda to cause ideological vacillation
among our people and the People’s Army personnel. Therefore, the
commanders and political workers should have conducted their
political work better than ever before to expose and crush the enemy’s
wicked propaganda and to encourage all the people and soldiers to
fight valiantly with confidence in victory. But they failed to do so.
Consequently, some soldiers headed north and did not fight the enemy
resolutely, quite unaware of the aim of the strategic retreat: still others
dropped off from their ranks and retreated separately.
It is one of the lofty political and moral traits of the People’s Army
to strictly observe military and public discipline. The People’s Army
soldiers enjoyed great support and love from the people when they had
advanced, liberating the southern half, because they strictly adhered to
this discipline. However, during the retreat some soldiers violated
public discipline, failed to keep themselves neat and tidy and were
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uncivil. Such a detraction from the lofty political and moral traits of the
People’s Army is, in the final analysis, due to the fact that the
commanders and political workers did not conduct political work
properly among the soldiers.
In the past period of the war more than just a few shortcomings
were revealed. But we can and must remedy them.
Comrades, we have retreated far up to the northern border area.
Now we cannot retreat any farther, even if we want to. The Amnok
River flows behind us. In the bygone days many sons and daughters of
Korea crossed this river shedding bitter tears, because they had lost
their country to the Japanese imperialists. We cannot cross this river
again leaving the land where our forefathers lie in their graves and
which is permeated with the red blood of our revolutionary
forerunners. We must fight the enemy in our homeland come what
may.
Are we to become slaves of US imperialism or are we going to
defend our freedom and independence by waging a life-and-death
struggle to defeat the US imperialist invaders who have crept into our
country? We have the two alternatives now. In the past our people
suffered all kinds of maltreatment and contempt because our country
was occupied by the Japanese imperialists. How can we allow our
country to be seized by foreign aggressors again and lead the life of a
homeless people? We can never do so. We must fight the enemy
making any sacrifice that is necessary, and safeguard our country’s
freedom and independence.
Korea is not dead but alive. Our people and People’s Army are
going strong and fighting the enemy bravely.
We must launch a decisive counteroffensive. The whole country is
filled with the people’s wrath at the brutal atrocities of the US
imperialist wolves. The people, groaning under the occupation of the
US imperialist aggressors, are waiting impatiently for our helping
hand; and the country is calling us to a new decisive battle, to a battle
of vengeance. It is high time that we humbled the pride of the US
imperialists and demonstrated the mettle of the Koreans. The US
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imperialist aggressors have reduced our beautiful land to ruins and
slaughtered our beloved parents and brothers in cold blood. We must
avenge them a hundred and thousand times so as to satisfy our people’s
deep-rooted grudge. All the officers and men of the People’s Army
must rise up as one in the sacred struggle to annihilate the US
imperialist aggressors.
The war maniac MacArthur is now frenziedly driving the
mercenary troops into the battlefield, bragging that he will occupy the
whole territory of the northern half of Korea by “blitz warfare” and that
he will be back in his country in time to raise a toast at “Christmas”.
This is but a delusion, however. The Korean people will surely win
victory in the just Fatherland Liberation War and the US imperialist
aggressors will sustain an ignominious defeat and be driven out of our
land once and for all.
We have every factor for victory.
We have the Workers’ Party of Korea, the leading and guiding
force of the Korean people, as well as the Government of the Republic.
The Workers’ Party of Korea leads all the Korean people wisely along
the road to victory. The intelligent guidance of our Party is the decisive
guarantee for all victories.
We have an awakened and tempered people. Our people of today
are the full-fledged masters of an independent and sovereign state.
They have personally experienced a new, happy life, seizing power in
their own hands. Our people have risen as one in the sacred Fatherland
Liberation War against the US imperialist aggressors and their stooges,
firmly determined not to repeat the bitter life of colonial slaves. No
aggressor will be able to check the just cause of our people nor subdue
them in their struggle.
We have the People’s Army that is displaying mass heroism and
unparalleled valour in the righteous Fatherland Liberation War to
defend the country’s freedom and independence. The People’s Army is
an army that has directly inherited the brilliant traditions of the
anti-Japanese armed struggle. It is a genuine people’s army with a lofty
mission to safeguard the country and the people from foreign
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aggressors. The People’s Army enjoys a deep love and trust from the
people and the superiors and subordinates are united firmly with one
idea. That is why, even though it is only three years old, it has
accomplished immortal achievements and become invincible in the
war against the US imperialist aggressors and their lackeys. Its
achievements will shine for ever in the history of our country. The
People’s Army led by our Party is invincible.
We are receiving unstinted assistance, support and encouragement
from the peoples of the mighty democratic camp and the peace-loving
people the world over. In particular, the Chinese people have sent their
best sons and daughters to the Korean front to help us at the risk of
their own lives.
We are sure to win victory. We have the Workers’ Party of Korea,
the guiding force of our people, and the Government of the Republic;
we also have the awakened and tempered people, the invincible
People’s Army and international support and encouragement.
On the other hand, the US imperialist aggressors cannot escape an
ignominious defeat. They are soldiers who have been hired out to the
front, deceived by the false propaganda that Korea abounds in gold.
The Syngman Rhee puppet troops are a mob who have been whipped
together. Therefore, their fighting capacity is insignificant. What is
worse, they are floundering at the front. The US imperialist aggressor
army and the Syngman Rhee puppet army are not well coordinated and
there is a gap between the western and eastern sectors of their front.
Besides, they are unable to conduct proper military manoeuvres in the
steep mountain areas in the height of winter. To make matters worse,
they are far away from their rear now and their supplies are being held
up because of the active struggle being waged by our units and
inhabitants behind enemy lines.
But we must not think that everything will go smoothly just because
we have everything in our favour for victory and the enemy has been
thrown into a dilemma. The desperate enemy is bound to make a
last-ditch effort. The deeper the enemy is driven into a quandary, the
harder must we hit him.
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The People’s Army units should do everything possible to make
full preparations for a new counteroffensive in the shortest possible
time and deal a fatal blow to the US imperialist aggressors. This is their
most important task, for the present.
The officers and men of the People’s Army must completely
eliminate undisciplined practices and shake off their defeatist and
pessimistic attitudes.
In war it is possible that sometimes we win and sometimes we
suffer a momentary failure; it is also possible that sometimes we may
advance and sometimes retreat. We may have to wage a more arduous
struggle in the future. The officers and men of the People’s Army
should not be contented with victory or discouraged with temporary
setbacks; they should have a firm ideological resolve to fight the
enemy valiantly in any adversity devoting their all.
We must strive to ensure unity and cohesion in our revolutionary
ranks. We must strongly fight those cowards and delinquents who
outwardly profess to be patriots, but who in fact have ulterior motives.
Discipline is the quintessence of an army; it is the source of fighting
efficiency. A revolutionary discipline and a strict system of command
should be established at all units from the Supreme Headquarters down
to the lowest echelon. When the situation is more difficult and
complex, all soldiers must observe military discipline voluntarily and
wage a strong ideological struggle against undisciplined practices.
This will turn the People’s Aimy into iron ranks-an invincible
revolutionary armed force that can fight through fire and water to carry
out the Party’s orders and instructions unconditionally, and brave any
hardships and ordeals.
The People’s Army units must not waste precious time. They should
make the most of their time to reorganize their rank s and develop their
present front line into an advance base for a counteroffensive. They must
set up checkpoints at the roadside. They must send patrols and personnel
administration officers there, who will incoiporate the soldiers who are
retreating separately, into the units and combined units which are
stationed in the given areas, regardless of where they belonged formerly.
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Meanwhile, we must form new units with the retreating young and
middle-aged people and conduct military and political training. The
training must be given to suit our specific situation based on the
experience gained in the course of the war. In this way the new units will
acquire a great fighting capacity as soon as possible.
The frontline units must go on with the battles to encircle and wipe
out the enemy and conduct well-coordinated operations with the
Chinese People’s Volunteers. At the same time they must replenish
their ranks.
The combined units of the People’s Army behind enemy lines must
be in close touch with the people’s guerrillas so as to cut off the routes
of the enemy’s convoys everywhere, assault their headquarters, rescue
the patriots detained by them and expand the liberated areas.
Widespread actions should be developed to shoot down enemy
planes. If you are to fight enemy planes, you must not fear them.
Otherwise, you will become defeatists and will not be able to fight the
enemy. You must fight enemy planes actively and prevent them from
flying into our airspace freely.
We are short of planes now. But it will not be long before we have
many of them. Yet, there is the problem of pilots. Their training
requires time. But we cannot sit with our arms folded until they are
trained. Although we have a small number of aircraft, we must give
thought to how we can prevent enemy planes from intruding into our
airspace freely and shoot down as many of them as possible. If we
think very hard, we can find ways and means.
We must use every possible means to fight enemy planes. We must
put in motion not only anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine
guns, but also all kinds of small arms such as light and heavy machine
guns. Then, we shall be able to shoot enemy planes flying in from any
direction at any altitude, and we will be able to bring down many of
them and prevent them from flying wild.
Strengthening Party political work in the People’s Army decisively
is essential for increasing its combat capability and winning our final
victory in the Fatherland Liberation War.
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Recently the Political Committee of the Party Central Committee
took steps to form Party organizations in all the units and reorganize
the cultural department into the political department. This was aimed at
tightening Party leadership over the People’s Army and improving
political work in the army. These steps should be completed in the
army units as early as possible and the role of the new organizations
and departments should be intensified.
Party organizations and political bodies at all levels in the People’s
Army must intensify ideological education, which will help enhance
the morale of the soldiers and inspire them with confidence in victory.
They must apply various forms and methods, including motivation and
lecture, to arm the soldiers firmly with our Party’s policy and
Marxism-Leninism. They must widely introduce and propagate the
exploits of heroic soldiers among them. In this way we will induce all
of them to have a strong conviction of victory and display matchless
valour and mass heroism in the struggle against the US imperialist
aggressors.
All the soldiers must be educated to observe public discipline
voluntarily. The People’s Army has come from among the people and
fights in their interests. So they should never violate this discipline. Party
organizations and political bodies must educate all the soldiers to cherish
the property of the people and have dose ties of kinship with them.
We must pay careful attention to improving the work of the
Democratic Youth League organizations in the People’s Army. Party
organizations and political bodies must see to it that the DYL
organizations do their work well to conform with the characteristic
features of the young soldiers. This will train them into revolutionary
fighters, firmly armed politically and ideologically, into dependable
reserves of our Party.
Party organizations and political bodies in the People’s Army must
do good political work among the people. They must acquaint the
people with the aggressive nature of the US imperialists and explain
that the aggressors can be defeated if everyone unites firmly with the
People’s Army and fights. They should thus get all the population to
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take an active part in the struggle against US imperialism with a strong
conviction of victory.
We must thoroughly expose the US imperialists’ aggressive
machinations, brutalities and atrocities to the world’s people and
thereby isolate them still further.
We must ensure proper supplies for the army. If we fail to do this,
we cannot raise the combat efficiency of the units. The commanders
and political workers must look after the lives of the combatants with
parental care; they must always pay careful attention to feeding and
clothing the combatants well and giving them ample rest. For the
present they must see to it that all the soldiers get winter clothes. The
sick and wounded should be evacuated to the rear where they will be
safe and will be given proper treatment so that they can recover as soon
as possible and fight in the combat ra nks again.
One of the important tasks confronting the commanders and
political workers is that of strengthening their ties with local Party and
power organizations and giving them active help in their work. They
should thus see to it that social disorder is put right as speedily as
possible. They must also get in touch with the interior service organs,
judicial organs and public prosecutor’s offices to intensify the struggle
against spies and subverters and saboteurs and expose and crush the
enemy’s machinations at every step.
In conclusion I should like to reemphasize that every second counts
now. We must thwart the enemy’s attack and make good use of our
time in getting fully ready for a counteroffensive. This is the only way
to bring about a radical change at the front as early as possible.
You must make a correct analysis of the retreat in the context of
today’s meeting, draw experience and lessons and take steps to make
full preparations for a counterattack.
The Party places great trust in you and expects a great deal from
you.
I firmly believe that you will not fail to live up to this trust and
expectations.
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ON INTENSIFYING OPERATIONS
BEHIND ENEMY LINES
Instructions Given to the Commander of the Second
Corps of the Korean People’s Army
November 17, 1950
We have already heard that you are fighting well behind enemy
lines. In spite of the difficult circumstances of retreat, you have carried
out vigorous activities there and liberated Yangyang, Kosong,
Thongchon and many other areas, and rescued numerous patriots and
inhabitants. We are satisfied and highly appreciate your successful
activities behind enemy lines. Your struggle has given the people in the
enemy-held areas courage and confidence in victory and inspired them
greatly in their struggle against the US imperialists and the Syngman
Rhee puppet clique. Everywhere they are now waging valiant guerrilla
and underground activities in the face of savage repression by the
enemy.
I would like to extend my thanks to all the officers,
noncommissioned officers and soldiers of your unit, who have waged
an unflinching struggle and won a brilliant victory under difficult
circumstances behind enemy lines.
The situation at the front is turning in our favour now. Our first
operation in the third stage of the war dealt the enemy a heavy blow
and frustrated their attack; they are now in a flurry on the Chongchon
River, Lake Jangjin and the Orang River. However, MacArthur, the
cutthroat, has not given up his designs of attack; he is preparing for the
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so-called “Christmas general offensive”, bragging that they would
occupy the whole of the northern half of Korea before the forthcoming
“Christmas”.
At present all the forces under the Eighth US Army, the enemy’s
main group, are concentrated on the Chongchon River. In the eastern
sector of the front are deployed the Tenth US Corps and the First Corps
of the Syngman Rhee puppet army. Judging from the deployment of
the enemy forces and their movements, their main attack, as we have
foreseen, will be directed to the western sector of the front, and their
secondary attack to the eastern sector. Thus they are scheming to seize
the whole territory of the northern half of Korea in one go. But the
enemy’s scheme is a mere delusion.
From the military point of view, the enemy’s operational plan and
commanding system have fundamental drawbacks. Their front is more
than 1,000 ri wide; it extends from the estuary of the Chongchon River
to the Orang River. For that matter, it consists mostly of rugged
mountainous areas. Therefore, there is a gap between the enemy forces
in the western and eastern sectors of the front, although they have
pushed in massive forces consisting of scores of divisions. Moreover,
their fla nks have already been exposed to us because their attack has
been mainly along the highways. Besides, the enemy’s commanding
system is confused and they fail to maintain proper coordination
between their forces. The Eighth US Army, the main force of the
enemy, and the Tenth US Corps operate separately under the command
of MacArthur, Commander-in-Chief of the US Armed Forces in the
Far East, who is in Japan. From there, he cannot properly command the
coips at the front, no matter how shrewd he may be. That is why there
is always confusion in the command of the frontline forces and in the
coordination between them.
We will turn to good account these military defects of the enemy,
frustrate their design to attack and switch over to a decisive
counteroffensive.
In our future operations, we shall launch into counterattack along
the whole front, aiming our main strike at the western sector. We shall
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also conduct active combined operations between our main force and
the second-front units operating behind enemy lines. This will be
effective in encircling and wiping out the main enemy groups on the
Chongchon River and Lake Jangjin and in and around Hamhung and
Chongjin, and liberating all areas of the northern half of Korea under
enemy occupation. We shall continue to further our achievement in
battle to areas south of the 38th Parallel and expedite our final victory
in the war. This is our basic operational policy.
In our forthcoming counterattack we shall not merely drive the
enemy back, but will encircle and destroy them everywhere, to prevent
them from regrouping their forces. To begin with, we shall surround
and crush the main enemy force-the Eighth US Army-concentrated on
the Chongchon River and break through the western sector of the front.
This will cause great confusion throughout the entire enemy front.
Then our units around Chongjin and Lake Jangjin shall destroy the
enemy before them and swiftly link up in the Hamhung area to form a
new sphere of encirclement in the eastern sector of the front, the
direction of our secondary effort.
When our main force switches over to the counteroffensive, the
second-front units must engage the enemy actively and strike them
from behind. Then, they will be able to drive the enemy into a large
encirclement and wipe them out to a man.
The main task for the Second Corps is to hold a wide area in
Hwanghae and Kangwon Provinces and hit the enemy from behind
through intensive operations in their rear. You should take the
initiative and fight actively everywhere and destroy or take control of
the roads and bridges, cut off the enemy’s transport routes and retreat,
and wipe out the retreating enemy troops and their reinforcements. In
this way you will ensure success in the counteroffensive.
When our second operation starts, the Second Corps must control
the Pyongyang-Kaesong, Pyongyang-Singye and Yangdok-Wonsan
roads and hit the fleeing enemy. As our main units exploit the success
in their attack, the enemy may make desperate attempts to resist by
falling back on switch positions along the 38th Parallel, using their
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stragglers and operational reserves. Therefore, you must not lose time
in taking control of the 38th Parallel and wiping out the enemy’s
reinforcements, and thus smash their scheme for defence in the switch
line.
At the same time, you must liberate the enemy-held areas, restore
the Party and people’s government organizations in the liberated areas,
and intensify political work among the people there to encourage them
to fight vigorously against the US imperialist aggressors. Even at this
moment many of our parents and brothers are being slaughtered in cold
blood by the enemy. We must save them as soon as possible.
Whether or not your coips can fulfil its task of fighting behind
enemy lines depends largely on how it will wage its guerrilla warfare.
You should conduct it skilfully, drawing on the experience of the past
anti-Japanese armed struggle.
To ensure success in guerrilla warfare, you must first build up your
unit militarily and politically.
You must finish regrouping quickly, and designate appropriate
zones of activity for the regrouped combined units and others, and
assign them proper combat tasks. Meanwhile, you should enlist all the
separately retreating units and soldiers into the second-front units for
joint efforts.
You should tighten discipline in your unit. At present indisciplined
practices are being revealed among some units behind enemy lines; for
instance, they change the organizational system of their political
bodies at random. Such a practice should be stopped immediately.
You must properly educate the soldiers in ideology. Special
attention must be paid to this work in view of unit actions behind
enemy lines. What is important in ideological education is to convince
the soldiers of victory. The commanders and political workers must
bring home to them that we are sure to win, because we have the
Workers’ Party of Korea, the General Staff of the revolution, the
people firmly united around the Party and the courageous People’s
Army and because we enjoy support and encouragement from many
fraternal peoples as well as other peace-loving people. They should
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also make it clear to the soldiers that before long the People’s Army
will switch over to a decisive counteroffensive together with the
Chinese People’s Volunteers. Thus they can encourage all the soldiers
to fight with a confidence in victory.
Next in importance is to seize the initiative in battles. This is the key
to victory. Taking the initiative is particularly important in guerrilla
warfare. If one seizes the initiative in this, one can hit the enemy as one
pleases but, if not, one will have to be on the defensive and will not be
able to escape setbacks in the battle.
If you are to take the initiative in guerrilla warfare, you should have
a good grasp of the enemy and never fail to forestall them. To do this,
you must reconnoitre them better, and swiftly concentrate, disperse or
move your unit to suit the prevailing situation and the specific
circumstances. You must deftly apply various combat actions. You
should thus destroy the enemy headquarters, communication centres,
storages, roads and bridges everywhere, and throw them into disarray.
Next, you must choose the right bases and expand and strengthen
them steadily.
You must strive to do this because you are fighting behind enemy
lines. You must build up your bases in zones advantageous from the
military, political and geographical points of view. You must rely on
these bases in organizing your units, giving your soldiers military and
political training and ensuring them rest and treating the wounded. The
units operating behind enemy lines must also restore the Party and
people’s government organizations at the bases, stabilize the
livelihood of the people, and conduct political work among them, to
induce them to take an active part in the struggle against the US
imperialist aggressors. When you return to the enemy’s rear this time,
you ought to take some Party and people’s government officials who
will work in the liberated areas.
Active support and encouragement from the people and unity with
them is one of the factors enabling a revolutionary army to be always
victorious in fighting the enemy. We emerged victorious from the
arduous armed struggle against the Japanese imperialists because we
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enjoyed unreserved support and encouragement from the people.
Since you are fighting behind enemy lines, you must strive to
strengthen your ties with the people, so as to receive their active
support and encouragement anywhere and at any time. You must
always love and help the people. You must never inflict losses on their
property or encroach upon their interests. As for provisions, you must
wrest them from the enemy. When you have no other choice but to get
them from the people, you must not fail to pay for them. If you have no
money, you should leave them credit notes so that they may be paid
later.
Meanwhile, you must develop closer ties with the people’s
guerrillas operating behind enemy lines. In response to our October 11
radio address, the people in the enemy-held areas have organized
people’s guerrilla units in many places and are putting up a valiant
struggle against the enemy. You must actively assist them to fight
better and see that they move under the unified command of your
corps.
Now, you must look after the life of the soldiers properly. While
fighting behind enemy lines, you may face many difficult problems,
such as the supply of provisions, clothing and the treatment of the
wounded. The harder the circumstances, the more responsibly the
commanders should take care of the soldiers. Every soldier is our
revolutionary comrade-in-arms and precious to the nation. It is quite
praiseworthy that you took all the wounded with you, not leaving a
single one of them behind enemy lines despite the difficult situation of
the retreat. To treasure and love the soldiers is the duty of the
commanders of a revolutionary army; it is our Party’s requirement.
The commanders must not forget this even for a moment. The soldiers
fighting behind enemy lines are still in summer clothes. How cold they
must be! We have the supplies but have not managed to send them
because of the complicated situation at the front. You must take winter
clothes for the comrades fighting there, when you go back. You must
also take plenty of rice and meat so that they may not go hungry.
Last, you must skilfully organize the work of disintegrating the
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enemy forces and work especially well with the prisoners of war. You
cannot take them along with you because you are fighting behind
enemy lines. You must send them to their homes. You must explain to
them clearly our Party’s policy with regard to war prisoners and
educate them well, so that they never again become stooges or bullet
shields for the US imperialists and the Syngman Rhee puppet clique.
I firmly believe that the officers and soldiers of your corps will
launch vigorous activities behind enemy lines while upholding the
Party’s policy, and thus contribute greatly not only to carrying out the
immediate operations with success, but also to hastening the final
victory in the war.
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ON THE OCCASION OF THE LIBERATION
OF PYONGYANG
Appeal of the Supreme Commander
of the Korean People’s Army
December 9, 1950
Dear citizens of Pyongyang,
Dear fellow countrymen, brothers and sisters,
Heroic People’s Army and guerrillas,
Brotherly Chinese People’s Volunteers,
Pyongyang, a celebrated ancient capital of our country with a five
thousand year old brilliant history and which it now the powerful
democratic base of the new people’s Korea, was liberated on
December 6 from the temporary occupation of the US imperialist
aggressors and the traitorous Syngman Rhee clique. It is thanks to the
heavy attack earned out by the units of the heroic People’s Army, the
brave guerrilla units who were active in the rear of the enemy and the
brotherly Chinese People’s Volunteers, under the command of the
Supreme Headquarters of the Korean People’s Army.
On the occasion of the liberation of Pyongyang, allow me, on
behalf of the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea and the Supreme Headquarters of the Korean People’s Army, to
express my deep thanks to the units of the Korean People’s Army, the
guerrillas and the Chinese People’s Volunteers, and offer warm
congratulations to the liberated Pyongyang citizens and all fellow
countrymen, brothers and sisters of Korea.
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The heroic People’s Army and guerrillas, in close cooperation with
the brotherly Chinese People’s Volunteers, have already liberated
almost all the areas north of the 38th Parallel, including Pyongyang,
and some areas of the southern half, and are now continuing a
large-scale annihilation programme in pursuit of the enemy who are
fleeing southward in confusion. Large combined units of our brave
people’s guerrillas who penetrated deep behind enemy lines have
begun to attack them in different parts south of the 38th Parallel.
The wild ambitions and plot of the American marauders to swallow
up our country with one stroke and to conquer our people by “blitz
warfare” are being shattered.
During the past two months of the sacred Fatherland Liberation
War, our heroic People’s Army, an army of our country and people,
was compelled to make a temporary strategic retreat before the
advancing preponderant armed forces of aggression from many
imperialist countries headed by the US imperialist aggressors. Our
retreat, however, was a temporary one aimed to administer a powerful
attack upon the enemy and wipe out and drive them out of our soil and
lead the great Fatherland Liberation War to victory.
Even in the most difficult period of the retreat, all the Korean
people who rose in their just struggle to defend the independence,
freedom and honour of the country, never surrendered to the enemy.
They rallied firmly around the Government of the Republic and
expressed through their actual struggle their firm determination to
achieve the final victory at all costs.
This determination has been expressed in the all-people’s guerrilla
movement conducted in all the areas of north Korea which were
temporarily occupied by the enemy; it has been expressed in the
widespread underground activities of people’s government and
Workers’ Party organizations and in the patriotic, selfless assistance of
the population to the People’s Army and the Chinese People’s
Volunteers.
The people’s strength is inexhaustible. This strength is invincible.
The Korean people who have risen in the just struggle to defend the
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independence, freedom and honour of their country, are enjoying great
encouragement and support from the peoples of the Soviet Union,
China and other People’s Democracies as well as other freedom-loving
people the world over. This constitutes another important source of our
people’s firm faith in victory and their unlimited strength.
Dear officers and men of the People’s Army and brave fighters of
the Chinese People’s Volunteers,
Men and women guerrillas,
Dear fellow countrymen, brothers and sisters,
The path to the final victory is open to us. However, we must realize
that manifold difficulties and obstacles still lie ahead of us. We can win
the ultimate victory only by overcoming difficulties and through grim
struggle and sacrifice.
The enemy is retreating in confusion, but they are not yet
annihilated. They are making more frantic efforts to regroup their
forces and achieve their sinister aims at any cost.
In order to wipe out the enemy and attain the final victory in the
war, we must not give the fleeing enemy any breathing time to build
new defence lines or to reorganize their forces.
The People’s Army units should speed up their advance. The
guerrilla units must further intensify their activities behind enemy lines,
carry out incessant surprise attacks upon the enemy and block their
routes of retreat and bridges, so that not a single enemy can escape.
The retreating enemy is destroying our towns, villages, factories,
enterprises, railways and buildings. In the liberated areas, our people
should maintain order, and quickly restore what has been damaged,
and build dwelling houses to stabilize their lives as soon as possible.
Along with this, they should ensure that there is a proper supply of
provisions to the units of the People’s Army and the Chinese People’s
Volunteers. They should repair railways, communications facilities,
roads and bridges in good time and aid the front actively.
The people in those areas which are not yet liberated should employ
all available means to wipe out the enemy mercilessly and protect their
towns, villages, factories and mills. They must supply provisions to the
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guerrilla units which are fighting heroically behind enemy lines and
give them every possible assistance.
All the Korean people should rally more firmly around the
Government of the DPRK and march forward to the victory of the
Fatherland Liberation War.
Death to our sworn enemies, the US invaders and the traitorous
Syngman Rhee clique, for the misfortune they brought to our country
and people!
Glory to the heroic People’s Army and the brotherly Chinese
People’s Volunteers who are marching forward, destroying the enemy!
Glory to the brave men and women guerrillas who are active behind
enemy lines!
Long live the united Korean people!
Long live the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea!
151
THE PRESENT SITUATION AND
THE IMMEDIATE TASKS
Report at the Third Plenary Meeting of the Central
Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea
December 21, 1950
Dear comrades,
One year has already passed since the Joint Plenary Meeting of the
Party Central Committees which decided to merge the Workers’
Parties of North and South Korea. At this historic meeting we
amalgamated the two parties in accordance with the will of the entire
membership of the Workers’ Parties of North and South Korea in order
to further consolidate the Party forces, carry on democratic
construction more dynamically with the concerted efforts of the whole
Party under the leadership of a unified Central Committee and rally the
broad working masses more closely around our Party to cope with the
then complicated situation. As a result, the unified Central Committee
came into being and under its leadership we, together with democratic
political parties and social organizations, have continued the resolute
struggle for the peaceful reunification of the country.
Our Party has always worked out a correct political line on the basis
of the earnest desire and interests of the Korean people and made
steady efforts for its implementation.
Our Party could not tolerate the fact that all the Korean people were
suffering great misfortunes and hardships in all fields of the political,
economic and cultural life due to the division of the country and the
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nation. It has done its best to reunify the country peacefully.
But the US imperialists hampered in every possible way the
peaceful reunification of our country. In order to realize their plan of
aggression which they had prepared a long time ago to turn the whole
of Korea into their colony, they instigated the traitorous Syngman
Rhee clique to start a fratricidal war on June 25, this year, and
immediately mobilized their ground, naval and air forces for an open
invasion against our country.
From that time, peaceful construction in our country was
interrupted and the whole land became a bloody battlefield.
( 1 )
Comrades,
It is now six months since the US imperialists and their henchmen,
the traitorous Syngman Rhee clique, unleashed an aggressive war
against our Republic.
During this period, all the Korean people, under the leadership of
our Party, fought heroically, in spite of all sacrifices, for national
reunification, independence, freedom and honour.
In the course of the war, a great change has taken place in the
military and political situation at home.
I am going to divide into three stages and analyse the change of the
military situation that took place during the war. Each stage has its own
specific features.
The first stage of the war was a period when our valiant People’s
Army continued its victorious advance, crushing the invading US
imperialist forces and Syngman Rhee puppet troops.
The second stage was a period when the People’s Army made a
temporary retreat with the balance of forces between the enemy and us
turning to our disadvantage because the US imperialist invaders
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increased their forces rapidly, and mobilized even the troops of Britain,
Australia, Turkey, Canada and other satellite states for the Korean
front.
The third stage is a period when our People’s Army, together with
the Chinese People’s Volunteers, frustrate the enemy’s attack,
annihilate large numbers of enemy troops and drive them to the south
of the 38th Parallel. This is the period when we reorganize and
strengthen our forces on the one hand and, on the other, weaken the
enemy forces through the incessant battles to annihilate them and thus
prepare for the final victory in the war.
In making a surprise attack on the areas north of the 38th Parallel,
the US imperialists and the traitorous Syngman Rhee clique calculated
that they could smash our young People’s Army at one stroke and
achieve their aggressive aims. But they were mistaken.
Our valiant People’s Army, following the order of the Government
of the Republic, not only thwarted the sudden attack of the puppet
Syngman Rhee army but also went over to the counteroffensive at
once. The puppet army began to crumble along the whole front, and
only three days after the war broke out, Seoul, the enemy’s base, was
liberated by the People’s Army.
The People’s Army repulsed and wiped out the puppet army in the
just struggle for the country and the people, thereby foiling the
aggressive scheme of the US imperialists to conquer our people
through the medium of the traitorous Syngman Rhee clique.
The US imperialists were extremely dismayed. From the first day
of the war, MacArthur, Commander-in-Chief of the US Armed Forces
in the Far East, made frantic efforts to mobilize aircraft and warships to
assist the fleeing puppet army. Truman ordered his ground, naval and
air forces to start a barbarous attack on our country. In this way, the
arrogant and vicious US imperialists fully revealed to the whole world
their nature as an aggressor, attempting to turn our country into their
colony at any cost.
When they started a direct invasion of our country such butchers as
Truman, Acheson and MacArthur dreamed that they could frighten our
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people by threatening statements or barbarous bombardment from the
air and the sea, and conquer them with several US army divisions
stationed in Japan.
The American invaders were superior to the People’s Army in
number and armaments, and their method of aggression was more
savage than that of Hitler’s. Clamouring for the interdiction of the
communications zone of the People’s Army, they resorted to barbarous
indiscriminate bombing on military and non-military objects, in
violation of international laws and regulations. They brutally bombed
peaceful towns and villages and destroyed everything-factories, mills,
railways, cultural institutions and dwelling houses. Especially heavy
was their bombing on our front.
Nevertheless, men, noncommissioned officers and officers of our
army continued to advance bravely, through the sea of enemy gunfire
and bombing. Having liberated Seoul, the People’s Amy destroyed
the enemy’s powerful defence positions on the southern ha nk of the
Han River and kept pursuing the fleeing enemy southward.
During the period of advance our army set an example of devotion
and valour. The brave soldiers displayed to the full the heroic spirit of
giving their lives without the slightest hesitation for national
independence and freedom. Scores of young sons and daughters of our
Party were awarded the honourable title of Hero of the Republic; and
among many units in which our Party members played the central role,
the 3rd, 4th, 6th Infantry Divisions and the 105th Ta nk Division won
the title of Guards.
In the southern half our army enjoyed boundless respect and love
from all the people. Everywhere the people and guerrillas gave a warm
welcome to the People’s Amy, their amy and liberator, and rendered
wholehearted assistance to it in defiance of all difficulties and danger.
They provided it with provisions, transported munitions and
participated devotedly in defending and restoring roads, bridges and
railways.
Amidst the infinite love and support of all the Korean people who
have risen up for national independence and freedom, the heroic
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People’s Army succeeded in liberating nearly the whole of the
southern half, crushing the US imperialist aggressor forces.
In the course of the war, the 24th US Infantry Division and the 1st
Cavalry Division suffered heavy losses, and the front was moved to the
shore of the Raktong River.
The US imperialists regarded the Korean people as colonial slaves
without any power to resist. They thought that to bring our people to
their knees, they had only to shout, threatening and blackmailing us
with aircraft, tanks and atom bombs. However, this showed their
foolishness.
Today in the van of the Korean people are the Workers’ Party of
Korea armed with Marxism-Leninism and the patriotic fighters who in
the days of Japanese imperialist rule devoted their all to the
anti-Japanese struggle for the independence and freedom of the
country.
The US marauders failed to reckon with the fact that the Korean
people of today are not the colonial slaves of yesterday, but a people
who over the five years have turned the northern half of their country
into a powerful democratic base and directly experienced freedom,
rights and happiness under their own state power. Nor did they
understand that such a people would never surrender to any imperialist
aggressor but fight to the last to defend the freedom and honour of their
country.
Through the war the US aggressors realized that they could not
conquer the Korean people easily and, moreover, became extremely
irritated and bewildered by the successive defeats their troops had
sustained at the front. Thus they entered upon the road of escalating the
war frantically. They mobilized all their ground, naval and air forces
on the Pacific and hurled them onto the Korean front while making
desperate efforts to check the advance of our army along the Raktong
River. As a result, we had to fight against a far preponderant enemy.
We did not have enough ready reserve forces and were not fully
prepared to overcome manifold difficulties in our way. And some
commanding officers of the People’s Army did not encircle and
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annihilate the enemy troops and prevent them from recovering, but
merely drove them back. This gave the enemy the chance of
regrouping their ranks. Furthermore, defence was not organized
properly in the liberated areas, so the enemy could launch fla nk attack.
Our army was unable to frustrate the oveipowering enemy attack
when the US imperialists started a large-scale surprise landing
operation at Inchon by mobilizing some 1,000 aircraft, hundreds of
warships and more than 50,000 troops. Though we had achieved
brilliant successes during the period of advance, we had failed to
completely drive the enemy out of our territory and given them a
chance to mount a counteroffensive. So we were compelled to retreat
temporarily.
Thus ended the first stage of the Fatherland Liberation War and
began the second stage of strategic retreat.
The large enemy forces that landed at Inchon cut off our front from
the rear, encircled the main force of the People’s Army in the southern
half and, taking advantage of the lack of our ready reserves, pushed
into the northern half of Korea.
Without adequately organized reserves except a few inadequately
trained forces, we had been encountered with the large attacking
enemy forces. The untrained fresh units had to fight the large units of
the enemy which landed at Inchon. They had rendered great services in
defending Inchon and Seoul and, in particular, those with our Party
members at the core fought with unparalleled heroism. Owing to a
marked difference in the balance of forces, however, we could not
completely check the advance of the preponderant enemy.
The Supreme Headquarters ordered the Front Command of the
People’s Army to swiftly transfer three to four divisions of its main
force on the southern front towards Inchon and foil the enemy’s
scheme to isolate that front. But the Front Command did not carry out
the order in good time.
As a result, the enemy occupied Seoul, cut off our forces on the
southern front, and began to invade deep into the north across the 38th
Parallel before the main force of the People’s Army which had
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advanced to south Korea completely broke out of enemy’s
encirclement.
In such a grave situation, our strategy was, on the one hand, to slow
down the enemy’s advance and thus gain time to rescue the main force
of the People’s Army from encirclement in the southern half and, on
the other, to continue to muster reserve units and make an organized
retreat.
The enemy strove to foil our strategic plan, and MacArthur kept
urging his troops almost every day to step up their advance to the
Amnok and Tuman Rivers by blitz warfare.
Our army could not but retreat to the north of the Chongchon River
in the face of the attack of the superior enemy. At that grave moment
for our country and people, the fraternal Chinese people sent their
powerful volunteers to the Korean front to aid the fighting Korean
people and defend their own interests.
Our People’s Army, in cooperation with the Chinese People’s
Volunteers, frustrated the enemy’s offensive completely. This marked
the end of the second stage of the war.
We have now entered on the third stage of the war whose task is to
push ahead with full preparations for the final victory-regroup the
units that had fallen back and send them to the front again, launch an
offensive with the units already-reorganized and on the line of defence
side by side with the units of the Chinese People’s Volunteers, recruit
more fresh strength and form more new units, and wage an extensive
guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines.
The above-mentioned is the course of the war which we have so far
traversed.
This course of the war shows that it was perfectly correct that our
Party created the People’s Army in good time, developed it into a
modem armed force and reared it as a genuine people’s army fighting
devotedly for national freedom and independence. Otherwise, our
Republic would have been completely overrun by the US imperialists
and the Syngman Rhee puppet clique.
During the war our young People’s Army has gained rich
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experience and become a tempered army that knows how to advance
and retreat and can fight the enemy under all conditions.
Our people, united firmly around our Party, fought courageously
side by side with its members in defiance of all difficulties and
sacrifices. They continued to wage a stubborn struggle against the US
imperialists in face of all blackmail and threats, dealing heavy blows
and creating the basic condition for final victory.
The Korean people are not alone in their fight. They enjoy material
and moral support from the Soviet Union and many People’s
Democracies and, in particular, direct assistance from the Chinese
People’s Volunteers. The heroic struggle of our people has won the
admiration of the people the world over and has become a model and
banner of the national-liberation movement in colonies.
On the contrary, US imperialist invasion and their atrocities against
the Korean people are scathingly condemned by the people throughout
the world.
As the enemy is suffering from growing difficulties and internal
contradictions and their aggressive adventure is strongly criticized at
home, the morale of their troops is getting low with each passing day.
All this shows that we are fully capable of repulsing the invasion
and achieving victory.
We must realize, however, that there have been serious defects on
our part over the six months of the war.
First, we did not prepare enough reserves for the fight against such
a strong enemy as US imperialism, nor did we anticipate the many
difficulties in our way, nor made good preparations for overcoming
them.
Second, we did not foresee that since our army was inexperienced
and its cadres were young, it would not have that much sense of
organization to tide over difficulties once it encountered them. As a
matter of fact, many commanders showed a lack of organization in
leading their units and of perseverance in overcoming difficulties.
They were poor at command and slow in sizing up the situation, and
revealed many defects in leading their units.
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Third, the discipline of the units was weak. Many unit commanders
and officers neither endeavoured to carry out orders from their
superiors nor carried them out promptly.
Fourth, we failed to wipe out the enemy’s effectives and merely
dispersed or repulsed them. As a result, the enemy could regroup their
units to launch a counteroffensive.
Fifth, our army did not know how to wage battles skilfully against an
enemy with superior air, naval and ground forces. It was not familiar
with fighting, or changing tactics according to different conditions. In
particular, since the enemy intensified air-raids, it should have skilfully
waged mountain and night warfare, but it failed to do so.
Sixth, the guerrilla activities behind enemy lines were sluggish. We
expected that when the People’s Army advanced the underground
Party organizations in the southern half would rise in revolt and carry
on guerrilla struggles in different parts, and help in the advance. But
virtually no such struggles were developed, because Party work was
inadequate and many Party members were imprisoned or killed by the
US imperialists and the traitorous Syngman Rhee clique.
The aim of our guerrilla warfare in the enemy rear was to create a
second front since our air force was weak, and thus to paralyse the
enemy troop movement, disperse and rout them, assault their
headquarters and cut off their retreat, so as to throw them into panic
and confusion. Having keenly realized the importance of guerrilla
activities, the Political Committee of the Party Central Committee
organized guerrilla detachments with members of the Party Central
Committee as commandants and sent them to the enemy rear. But
some of them failed to acquit themselves well in the struggle.
Seventh, supply service for the front was not satisfactory. Saboteurs
crept into the supply service agencies to hamper this work. In many
cases, therefore, the needs of our units at the front were not met in good
time.
Eighth, political work in the army was not carried out at a high level
and the education of soldiers in revolutionary patriotism was insufficient.
We failed to bring home to them how much blood the anti-Japanese
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guerrillas had shed to capture enemy weapons and arm themselves.
There appeared in the army the defeatist mentality that fight against
the enemy was impossible without aircraft. Nevertheless, no powerful
struggle against such a dangerous tendency was carried out in the army.
Although many defects were revealed in the military aspect during
the war, our Party was fully able to correct them and further strengthen
the People’s Army. Our units suffered considerable losses during the
retreat but we regrouped the units that had fallen back and sent them
into action again. And we stepped up guerrilla activities.
At present, our army in cooperation with the Chinese People’s
Volunteers is winning victory after victory every day at the front, and
many units continue to advance across the 38th Parallel, pursuing the
enemy.
( 2 )
Comrades,
In the military and political situation obtaining in our country our
Party has done a tremendous work to achieve the ultimate victory in
the Fatherland Liberation War.
Our Party, leading all the people, overcame bravely all sorts of
difficulties and ordeals in the struggle to build an independent
democratic state. Likewise, shouldering all the heavy burdens of war at
this grave moment deciding the very existence of our country and the
destiny of our people, the Party has performed a great organizing work
in order to win the war, at the head of all patriotic political parties,
social organizations and all the people of our country, and roused the
entire membership and people to wage the Fatherland Liberation War
against the US imperialist invaders and their henchmen, the traitorous
Syngman Rhee clique.
When this traitorous clique, at the instigation of US imperialists,
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started a surprise invasion against the northern half of Korea, the
Political Committee of the Party Central Committee decided to launch
a counteroffensive. For this purpose it set up the Military Commission
vested with all powers in the country, with a view to mobilizing all
national efforts for the war, reorganizing all work on a war footing and
achieving the final victory.
In order to ensure victory our Party further tightened its own
discipline and military discipline and mercilessly combatted all
cowards, pessimists, rumour-mongers and other kinds of saboteurs.
This brought about the Party’s unity of thought and action.
As the US imperialist robbers started an open invasion, the nature
of the war changed, it grew in scope and became protracted. Therefore,
the Party undertook and is undertaking the tremendous work of
forming many divisions quickly, training tens of thousands of military
cadres, arming all the people and recruiting reserves.
With the view of strengthening the growing People’s Army, the
Party sent large numbers of its finest members into the army. It also set
about forming Party organizations in the army in order to establish iron
military discipline, increase combat efficiency, further enhance its
leading role and carry on more energetically the political work of
educating all the army men in lofty patriotism and revolutionary spirit.
The Party not only fought hand in hand with all the patriotic
political parties and social organizations at home in the period of
peaceful construction but also conducted the work of strengthening the
united front with every party and group during the war.
Comrades, the line and all the steps our Party worked out to cope
with the war unleashed by the US imperialists and their henchmen, the
traitorous Syngman Rhee clique, were correct.
During the six months of the war our Party brought its fighting
efficiency and function into full play. Tha nks to its leading role and its
members’ vanguard, selfless activities in the struggle against the
enemy, our Party enjoys the respect and love of all the Korean people.
In this way, our Party, rallying all the people more closely around
itself and surmounting all difficulties and obstacles, has done a great
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work with success for the ultimate victory in the Fatherland Liberation
War.
During the first stage of the war, an all-people movement was
carried out in the northern half of Korea for strengthening the rear,
assisting the front and providing it with munitions and other goods, in
keeping with the advance of the People’s Army.
Defying the barbarous air-raids and naval bombardment by the US
imperialist invaders, the workers, by their heroic struggle, ensured
success in wartime transport, restored the damaged factories and mills,
and guaranteed wartime production. Many munition factories
including arsenals increased their production many times over
compared with peacetime and overfulfilled their production
assignments by far. The peasants unleashed a movement to increase
agricultural production and satisfied the needs of the front and the rear
for provisions. All the working people came out to rebuild the
destroyed roads and bridges quickly and carried ammunition and
provisions to the front which extended as far as the Raktong River.
Men of science, culture and art, students of the tertiary schools
explained and propagated the correct policies of the Republic among
the people in all parts of the country, thereby inspiring them with
confidence in victory.
During the first stage of the war, our Party and people’s government
bodies performed their role as organizers and mobilizers with credit.
During the counteroffensive by the People’s Army, tremendous
socio-economic transformations were carried out and an
unprecedented patriotic movement of the people was launched in the
southern half of Korea.
The people in the southern half who were freed from the barbarous
police and terrorist rule of the US imperialists and the traitorous
Syngman Rhee clique, enthusiastically supported the policy of the
Government of the Republic and actively helped the advancing
People’s Army. They rebuilt roads and bridges between the Rimjin and
the Raktong Rivers and transported munitions. Their mass-scale
participation in the work of aiding the front like this clearly showed
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what kind of system they wanted to live in.
Our Party and Government of the Republic enforced democratic
reforms and got rid of the police ruling machine of the traitorous
Syngman Rhee clique and restored the people’s government bodies in
order to guarantee the liberated people of the southern half democratic
rights and freedom and improve their material and cultural life quickly.
In different parts of the liberated south elections to county, sub-county
and ri people’s committees were held and 97 to 98 per cent of the entire
electorate went to the polls. This proves how ardently the people there
yearned for the people’s committees, their own organs of power, and
supported our Republic. Along with this, our Party conducted the work
of rebuilding Party organizations and training cadres in the liberated
areas of the south. And the democratic political parties and social
organizations which had been suppressed under the rule of the
traitorous Syngman Rhee clique revived and resumed their activities.
Through their own experience, the people of the southern half
understood the correctness of our Party’s line and realized that our
Party was the sole political party thoroughly defending the interests of
the country and the people. That was why they infinitely trusted and
respected our Party and entrusted it with their destiny.
As you see, the work done by our Party during the first stage of the
Fatherland Liberation War was tremendous, indeed.
In the course of the war there were serious defects in our work.
When the US imperialists started invasion, many of our leading
cadres did not foresee that the war would be extended and,
accordingly, our difficulties would increase, nor did they take
measures to overcome them.
They failed to reckon that there might be advances or retreats in the
course of the war. In particular, they did not realize the possibility of
temporary retreat of the People’s Army with the change in the balance
of military power between the enemy and us, caused by the US
imperialists’ direct invasion. Hence the preparations for retreat were
neglected in the rear. Our Party organs and cadres did not take
measures in advance for an organized retreat, nor did they educate the
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people and army men regularly so as to overcome possible difficulties
in case of retreat. As a result, many Party organs and leading cadres
were thrown into disorder and confusion during the second stage of the
war when the People’s Army was compelled to retreat with the
reinforcements of the US imperialist aggressors landing at Inchon
behind our lines.
Scared at the enemy’s advance, certain Party organs and cadres lost
their ability to direct their Party organizations and subordinate organs
and did not organize the retreat carefully. Moreover, leading cadres of
certain provincial Party and government bodies neither organized a
systematic retreat of their Party organizations and state organs nor
mobilized the people for the defence against the invasion of their
provinces. They became frightened at the advance of the enemy,
deserted their subordinate organs, Party members and other people,
and fled. And some ministries did not retreat in an organized way nor
did they check disorder, thus causing a tremendous loss to state
property.
Some officials of the interior organs, instead of assisting the Party
and government bodies in organizing an orderly retreat, and
safeguarding the property of the people and Party and government
organs to the last, deserted them and were the first to flee.
The Party Central Committee instructed that in the areas
temporarily occupied by the enemy Party organs should go
underground to guide guerrilla warfare and mobilize the people for the
struggle against the invaders. Some Party workers, however, failed to
implement these instructions.
During the retreat we lacked organization. This was notable
particularly at a time when we were faced with the unfavourable
situation at the front and encountered with difficulties. If there had
been a strong sense of organization, the Party units and their members
would have checked the disorderly retreat in good time and would have
saved large quantities of war materials and state property even in the
critical situation.
Discipline was loose within the Party. This was clearly manifested
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in the fact that during the retreat some leading Party officials and Party
members made a disorderly retreat. Lack of discipline in the Party led
to the slackening of discipline in government organs and the army.
Government officials, many cadres of Transport, Culture and
Information, Education and other ministries and local people’s
committees in particular, did not organize a systematic retreat of their
subordinate organs but fled first to save their own skins.
Quite a few responsible cadres did not act on the instructions from
the Government and aimlessly moved about, wasting precious time.
Lack of discipline was also revealed by the fact that cadres were slack
in following the instructions of their superiors and were irresponsible
and irresolute in carrying them out. Some of our responsible cadres of
local Party organizations and government officials did not carry out
faithfully their superiors’ instructions to defend their areas to the last
and to organize underground Party activities in case these areas
inevitably fell into the hands of the enemy.
Next, Party information and political education among the masses
were insufficient. Many Party organizations did the work with the
masses in a bureaucratic way and failed to educate them in a spirit of
overcoming difficulties. Party information and political education
were done in a formalistic way, instead of being spread deep among the
masses. As a result, during the period of retreat large numbers of
people were deceived by the enemy and some ignoramuses were used
by the reactionary elements.
Last, criticism and self-criticism of shortcomings was very weak in
the work of our Party organizations. Criticism and self-criticism
constitutes the motive power for development. Where there is no
criticism and self-criticism there can only be stagnation. Nevertheless,
it is still lacking much in our Party life.
Though some Party organs and members revealed many
shortcomings during the period of retreat, the Party and the people
did not succumb but fought and are fighting stubbornly to win the war
ultimately.
In the areas under the enemy’s temporary occupation our Party
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organizations and members carried on an underground movement and
waged a fierce guerrilla struggle in spite of barbarous suppression.
Tens of thousands of our Party members there fell in the heroic battles
for the Party, the country and the people. Their exploits will go down
for ever in the history of our Party and country.
Though the US imperialist invaders occupied temporarily large
parts of our territory and forced the People’s Army to retreat to the
north of the Chongchon River, they could break neither the iron will
and fighting efficiency of our Party nor the indomitable spirit of the
Korean people who rose up for national independence and freedom.
Even at the most crucial moment our people did not lose their heart;
instead, they trusted our Party and Government and put firm faith in
the final victory.
( 3 )
Comrades,
Korea has been the focus of the attention of the world public since
the first day the war started. The Soviet people have invariably
respected the sovereignty of the Korean people and supported their
struggle for freedom and independence. The Soviet Union has always
opposed the US policy of aggression against Korea and insisted on the
peaceful settlement of the Korean question. The peace-loving Soviet
Union has made every effort to prevent the Korean war from spreading
and to put an end to it.
The United States, however, has always pursued an aggressive
policy against Korea in order to turn it into its colony and, further, to
use it as a stepping-stone for its aggression of many Asian countries
including China.
The US imperialists who had frustrated every effort of the Korean
people to reunify the country peacefully and set out on an invasion,
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usurped the signboard of the United Nations to cover up their
aggressive acts and to bring the mercenaries of their dependent
countries into the Korean war.
As soon as the Syngman Rhee clique started an invasion of the
northern half of Korea, the US imperialists assisted its puppet army
with their air force. Their armed intervention in our country had started
already before the illegal resolution on the Korean question was
adopted at the UN Security Council under their pressure. Nevertheless,
they are brazen enough to try to camouflage their invasion of our
country as an act according to the UN resolution.
Regarding this, the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Soviet
Government said in his statement: “It is well-known that the US
government had started an armed intervention in Korea before the
Security Council met on June 27, 1950, without knowing what
resolution would be adopted at the meeting. Thus, the US government
had confronted the United Nations with a fait accompli, violating
peace.” This fully exposes the sinister scheme of the US imperialists to
cover up their aggressive act in the name of the United Nations.
Moreover, the resolution of the Security Council of June 27,1950 is
illegal, passed without the participation of two of its permanent
members, the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China. Under
the signboard of such a resolution, the US imperialists prattle that they
are executing “police duties” in Korea.
This foolish act on the part of the US imperialist aggressors,
however, cannot pull the wool over the eyes of even an innocent child.
From the beginning of the war they not only used their superior air
power to bomb indiscriminately the area north of the 38th Parallel, but
also mobilized large forces to land at Inchon and invade the northern
half across the parallel.
This eloquently shows that the aim and plan of US imperialism
were not to carry out the so-called “police duties” to protect the rule of
the Syngman Rhee puppet regime over the area south of the 38th
Parallel, but, from the start, to invade the whole of Korea and, at the
same time, to turn Korea into a springboard for aggression in China
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and the rest of Asia.
That was why the Government of the People’s Republic of China
and the Chinese people carefully watched every move of the US
imperialists from the first day of their invasion of our country. The
Foreign Minister of the People’s Republic of China warned the US
imperialists: “The Chinese people are deeply concerned about the
situation after Korea was invaded by the United States. They will never
tolerate any foreign aggression nor will they sit with folded arms while
their neighbours are invaded by the imperialists.”
The US imperialists, however, continued to accelerate their
invasion of Korea in order to attain their aim of making it a
springboard to invade China and other Asian countries.
They did not confine themselves to occupying the area south of the
38th Parallel; they crossed this line to advance to the Amnok River,
thereby threatening China directly. Moreover, they occupied Taiwan,
part of Chinese territory, and began to intrude into the Chinese
territorial waters and air space. Under this situation, the Chinese
people could not overlook the American invasion of Korea.
So they took the positive measure of dispatching Volunteers to the
Korean front not only to aid our people but to defend the People’s
Republic of China from the US imperialists’ threat of aggression. As is
pointed out in a statement of the Communist Party of China and the
Chinese democratic political parties and social organizations, Korea
and China are on a lip-to-teeth relation. It is absolutely just that the
Chinese people have sent their Volunteers to Korea to halt the US
aggression against her and also protect their homes and country.
No one can guarantee that, dreaming of world domination, the US
imperialists will not seek to occupy Korea today, to invade China
tomorrow and to conquer the whole of Asia the day after tomorrow.
There are no limits to the wild ambitions of the US aggressors.
The Chinese and Korean peoples have formed the militant and
brotherly ties of friendship through protracted revolutionary struggles
against imperialism. In the course of our Fatherland Liberation War,
their traditional relations of friendship have been further strengthened.
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No force can break the friendly relations between the peoples of Korea
and China, sealed with blood in the struggle against the common
enemy, the US imperialist invaders.
During the war, the international prestige of our Republic rose and
the friendly relations between the peoples of the Soviet Union and
People’s Democracies and the Korean people became closer.
Thanks to their heroic struggle against the armed interventionists of
16 countries headed by the US imperialists, the Korean people enjoy
boundless respect, support and sympathy from the freedom-loving
people the world over. This is because the struggle of the Korean
people against the US imperialist armed interventionists is a link and
banner of the struggle of the world people against a new war and for
peace and national independence.
( 4 )
Comrades,
A great change has taken place in the war and the enemy has been
completely driven out of the area north of the 38th Parallel and the
international position and prestige of our Republic have risen high. It
cannot be said, however, that the danger that has befallen our country
has been dispelled.
The US imperialists had planned for a quick decision in their
aggressive war in Korea, but they are getting deeper into a pit of
prolonged war against their will. In order to recover from their defeat,
they are plotting to unleash another world war. Now there is a
possibility of a long-drawn-out war.
We are confronted with numerous obstacles. We should not be
carried away by the victory we have already won, but should make
further advances bravely, overcoming all difficulties.
Under the prevailing new situation, we should wage a more
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stubborn struggle to successfully carry out the tasks facing the Party
and to attain the final victory in the war.
First, now that the enemy is fleeing across the 38th Parallel, our
People’s Army units must further intensify their offensive. They must
be active in pursuing the enemy, in order not to give him any respite to
build defence lines and regroup his forces.
Our People’s Army units must further strengthen the concerted
operation with the Chinese People’s Volunteers units. They should
thus encircle and annihilate larger numbers of enemy troops and
capture their arms.
Since we are still short of air power, we must learn how to combat
the technically superior enemy. We must be skilled in night and
mountain warfare, as well as in making use of mines in order to reduce
the mobility of the enemy.
One of our army’s serious weaknesses revealed in the last sixth
months was that headquarters at all levels failed to bring their
commanding ability into full play. Units can never be allowed to fight
as they want. In raising the commanding ability of all the
headquarters it is very important to ensure communications properly.
Every unit must regularly inform the higher command of its
whereabouts and the enemy’s situation, so that the higher
headquarters can form prompt and accurate estimate of the enemy’s
movements and the conditions of the units and make correct
decisions and that the decisions can be put into effect promptly. This
requires smooth communications.
Commanders must be well versed in various weapons, make full
use of their fire power and, in particular, organize effective
coordinated operation with artillery.
Reserve and technical units must be trained more speedily so that they
can be mobilized for the front in case of need. In training reserve units we
should not depend on the existing combat regulations alone, but on the
life experience of this war. Various military academies must strengthen
training and turn out within the set time excellent airmen, tankmen,
artillerymen, and officers who are brave and skilled in command.
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The People’s Army units and guerrillas who are operating behind
enemy lines must penetrate deep into the enemy-held areas and launch
active guerrilla warfare from all directions. They must blow up
railways, roads, bridges and communications networks to interdict the
enemy’s rear and paralyse his mobility, and raid his command posts
and headquarters. They must bravely attack and liberate not only
villages but towns as well.
Guerrillas have two important missions. Militarily, they must
annihilate as many US imperialist invaders as possible. They must
wipe out these aggressors, our sworn enemy, who are brutally bombing
and killing our peaceful inhabitants. Politically, they must encourage
the people to restore local government bodies and Party organizations
and rouse everyone to the anti-US struggle.
In order to further tighten discipline in the People’s Army, Party
work should be strengthened in the army. The army should be made a
revolutionary army with iron discipline. An army without discipline is
doomed to perish. Even a small army with strict discipline can defeat a
much larger enemy and smash the better armed enemy with inferior
weapons. Discipline is the life and soul of an army and the source of its
fighting power. Therefore, an energetic struggle should be waged to
strengthen discipline in the People’s Army.
It is of paramount importance to raise the political and ideological
level of the People’s Army. In all its units Party political education
should be intensified at once. The People’s Army is superior to a
capitalist army in that it is imbued with lofty patriotism and
internationalism and with a firm faith in victory. We must get every
officer and man of the People’s Army to understand profoundly whose
army it is and for what it is fighting.
Second, we must expose to the whole world all the crimes
committed by the US imperialists in their aggressive war in Korea. We
must lay bare before mankind all their barbarities unprecedented in
history, and thus isolate these beasts more thoroughly.
Failing to achieve their aggressive aim in Korea, the US marauders
are threatening us that they will use atom bombs. Their threat is not
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only adding fuel to the anger of the peace-loving people the world over
but also touching off criticism of US imperialism even in the
imperialist camp.
US imperialist aggressors, the ringleader of reaction, have suffered
a severe setback politically and morally and are meeting one defeat
after another militarily.
We must do our best to further strengthen the friendly relations with
the Soviet Union, the People’s Republic of China and other People’s
Democracies. This is an important guarantee for our ultimate victory.
Third, we must establish order, restore the economy and stabilize
the people’s livelihood in the liberated areas.
Our People’s Army and guerrillas and the Chinese People’s
Volunteers have already liberated the whole area north of the 38th
Parallel and part of the southern half. The most important tasks in the
liberated areas are to restore the people’s government bodies and Party
organizations rapidly, ensure the normal activities of democratic
political parties and social organizations and rehabilitate the shattered
economy.
Every ministry and government organ should investigate the war
damages and make preparations to work out a national economic plan.
We should restore all the factories and enterprises which can be put
into operation immediately and utilize all available goods and means
of production. Thus we must ensure supplies to the front and make
necessary preparations to start rebuilding the national economy as soon
as the war is over. To this end we should mobilize scientists and
technicians.
Every effort should be directed towards restoring transport facilities
and preparing the next year’s farming.
We should work out a balanced state budget, exploit mineral
resources and place the production of war supplies on a normal basis.
We should establish a reasonable system of rationing food and
essential goods and, in particular, we should take prompt measures for
relieving war victims and getting them to provide against winter.
All the Party members in the people’s committees must, in spite of
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all difficulties, ensure provisions and transport for the People’s Army
and the Chinese People’s Volunteers and must subordinate everything
to the demand of the front.
Fourth, Party discipline should be further strengthened.
Intensifying Party discipline is one of the most important problems
facing our Party work at present. One of the basic conditions for
defeating the enemy and winning victory is to strengthen Party
discipline more than ever and to firmly rally the entire membership
around the Party Central Committee.
Rigid discipline should prevail throughout the Party so that its
orders are carried out at any cost. A merciless struggle should be
waged against all tendencies that weaken Party discipline, and
whoever violates it must be severely punished. The war has clearly
revealed who is a genuine Party member and who is not. It has
mercilessly exposed the undesirable, cowardly and alien elements
within the Party. We must purge the Party of these elements and thus
strengthen it.
To continue. Party information and motivation should be stepped
up.
During the period of retreat, the Party’s information and education
work became very much inefficient. In particular, the level of
newspapers and publications fell both in content and form. We must
quickly restore the press to its former place despite all difficulties and
obstacles. Radio broadcasting, too, should be carried on regularly in
the face of all hardships.
Our information and motivation should not be formalistic; it should
be closely linked with the lives and interests of the masses.
The Party organizations at all levels must constantly guide their
members to deeply study the great doctrine of Marxism-Leninism,
creatively apply it to their work and try to solve problems arising in
practice according to the theory and method of Marxism-Leninism.
And they must bring Party policy home to their members, and teach
and help them in practical activities.
Party organizations must systematically check up whether Party
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and Government decisions and instructions are carried out promptly in
different fields. Without checkup it is impossible to ensure the
implementation of decisions and to improve work. Among other
things, we must often scrutinize and guide the work of the General
Political Bureau of the People’s Army and further strengthen it.
Since large areas are still overrun by the US imperialist aggressors
and the traitorous Syngman Rhee clique, it is of great importance to
strengthen the Party work in those areas.
Party bodies in the occupied areas must continue to preserve
themselves deep underground. At the same time, they must work
energetically to rally the broad masses around the Party, linking the
actual problems vital to their interests with the struggle for national
liberation and independence. Their organizations should always be
active among the masses and in cooperation with guerrilla units, lead
the people to rise in revolt and seize power in their areas.
Party organizations should strengthen criticism and self-criticism, a
mighty weapon of development. Everybody, from the highest to the
lowest, from cadres to rank-and-file members, must regard it as the
most important task to intensify it. Both the strengthening of Party
ra nks and the tightening of discipline are, in fact, closely linked with
rigorous criticism and self-criticism.
We should pay steady attention to guiding the mass organizations
including the Democratic Youth League and to strengthening
cooperation with the patriotic political parties and social organizations
which are affiliated with the Democratic Front for the Reunification of
Korea. We should help members of our fraternal parties to follow the
correct path and educate them in progressive ideas.
Some of our Party workers and members have a wrong idea about
the Chongu and the Democratic Party. It is true that during the retreat
many members of these parties insulted, persecuted or killed our
Workers’ Party members and activists in collaboration with the enemy
as members of reactionary “peace maintenance corps” and
“destroy-communism corps”. But this is the work of the reactionaries
who sneaked into these parties, and it is not their basic policy.
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Our Party members should not weaken the united front with the
friendly parties because of what these reactionaries did. We must further
strengthen the united front with them, maintain close relations with their
patriotic-minded activists, influence them and help them detect, expose
and isolate the reactionary elements who hide in their parties.
Last, mention must be made of those who took pan in the
reactionary organizations in the areas under the enemy’s temporary
occupation. The enemy formed many such organizations by deceiving
and threatening the people in the occupied areas. The evil elements in
them committed all sorts of bestialities in collaboration with the
enemy. It is natural that the people in the liberated areas want to take
revenge on them.
However, we may make blunders unless we deal with this matter
seriously.
We should not purge a person without due process of law or inquiry
just because he participated in a reactionary organization. We must love
and value the people. If a person had been forced by threat or blackmail
to join a reactionary organization but did not commit heinous acts, we
should pardon him generously and re-educate him. Even in the case of
vile elements, we should subject them to due legal procedures and
ensure that people themselves try them according to their opinions.
Comrades, among our Party members there are some idlers who are
just waiting for victory to come of itself. There are many people who
seek refuge in mountain valleys to spend their time in holiday mood
without bothering to know what is happening under their noses. They
differ but little from those who lie under a persimmon tree, waiting for
a ripe fruit to fall. It is a very dangerous tendency to try to sit idle and
want to live at the expenses of others, thinking that victory is surely on
our side, for the Soviet people are assisting us and the Chinese
People’s Volunteers have come to help us. We must solve our own
problems, no matter who helps us and how. We, the Korean people, are
masters. The masters should strive harder. The members of the
Workers’ Party, the core and vanguard of our people, should take the
lead in our work.
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Whether our nation can stand on its own feet or not depends on how
our Party, the organizer and inspirer of our people, works and how our
People’s Army fights. We must, therefore, thoroughly do away with all
the bad habits and tendencies of the past and strive to carry out the
honourable tasks that the country and the people have entrusted to our
Party.
Our people and the People’s Army will win ultimately without fail.
This does not mean, however, that our victory will come of itself
easily. Victory must be won by our own struggle. The path of
overcoming hardships is the very path leading to victory.
All the Party organizations and members should set an example to
the masses in the struggle to overcome difficulties.
Our people are fighting a sacred war for national independence and
freedom. Victory in this great war entails sacrifice.
1 am confident that at this grave moment our Party organizations
and members will display their indomitable valour and self-sacrificing
spirit, brave all difficulties and obstacles, in the van of all the people,
and carry out with credit the immediate revolutionary tasks that
confront the Party, and thus bring nearer the ultimate victory of the
glorious Fatherland Liberation War.
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CONCLUDING SPEECH DELIVERED
AT THE THIRD PLENARY MEETING
OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE
OF THE WORKERS’ PARTY OF KOREA
December 23, 1950
Comrades,
Present at this plenary meeting of the Party Central Committee are
many comrades who are performing important jobs both at the battle
and home fronts.
The last six months of war was a time of hard trial for us, an
important period for tempering us. The military and political situation
at present demands that our Party take new steps to eliminate
shortcomings, foster and develop merits revealed in the six months of
war, and bring the hostilities to a victorious conclusion. Although
every second counts, due to this demand, the Party Central Committee
has convened the plenary meeting this time to review the six months of
war and discuss future tasks. This will greatly help our Party lead us to
victory in the war.
At the plenary meeting many comrades took the floor. The debates
went on in keeping with Party line and policy, and all the speakers
unanimously resolved to work more energetically to implement them. I
think this is a very good thing.
As was criticized in the debates, in the course of the war,
particularly during the period of temporary retreat, serious
shortcomings were manifest among some of our cadres and Party
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members. During the temporary retreat some Party officials and
military commanders neglected their duties, wavering without
confidence in victory. Thrown into disorder and confusion, they failed
to ensure the retreat properly. Some Party members whiled their time
away, waiting for a job to arise, instead of seeking it and working hard
by showing creativity during this harsh time. This is an act unworthy of
a Workers’ Party member. When a Party member does not know Party
policy and does not try to work, he cannot claim to be a member even
though he has the membership card. Even some members of the Party
Central Committee must feel their consciences pricking, for idling
away their time, instead of trying to find something to do during the
temporary retreat.
The reason why some cadres and Party members made these
mistakes during this period is that Party organizations failed to work
adequately. In the past they did not educate cadres and Party members
satisfactorily and, in particular, did not imbue them with Party line and
policy effectively. If they had equipped them thoroughly with Party
policy at ordinary time, there would not have appeared such Party
members and cadres who were idle, or organized the withdrawal in an
irresponsible manner during the grim days of retreat, nor would so
many Party members have been murdered brutally by the enemy.
Many defects were criticized in the debates, but this does not mean
at all that we have only shortcomings and no success in our work. We
have more successes than shortcomings, and we have more cadres and
Party members who worked well, than those who failed.
During the war the overwhelming majority of cadres and Party
members fulfilled their assignments with credit and fought the enemy
heroically.
Workers of North and South Hamgyong provincial Party
organizations, on the whole, correctly carried out the instructions and
assignments given them by the Party and also ensured the retreat
comparably well. Military commissars and many other political
workers in the army admirably discharged their Party assignments of
giving political backing to the combat action of the units, and most of
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military cadres, too, fulfilled their tasks satisfactorily.
Among Party members, there are many exemplary cadres and
heroes who fought bravely for the Party, the country and the people.
Besides, many Party members died by flinging themselves at enemy
tanks, grenades in arms, to destroy them. We can cite innumerable
examples of Party members who fought the enemy gallantly. It is by no
means accidental that our Patty now has large numbers of excellent
cadres and heroes. This is because our Party has energetically
organized and carried out its work even under the difficult war
conditions.
Our struggle has not ended yet, and at this very moment fierce
battles against the enemy are going on at the front. We should not rest
content with the results already achieved, nor be arrogant. Some of our
people have a bad habit-they pretend to have what they have not and to
know what they know not; and when they are promoted to high posts
and praised, they become haughty and unfaithful to their work.
Following this meeting, we should thoroughly rectify the shortcomings
manifested in the war, properly mobilize all forces and win final
victory.
If we do not destroy the enemy, they will not perish or quit. The US
imperialist aggressors will never withdraw from our country unless
they are hard hit and fall into a bottomless mire. By the recent
counterattack we destroyed more than 80,000 enemy troops. The US
imperialist aggressors may venture to extend the war by reinforcing
their armed forces, in an attempt to retrieve their defeat. It is possible
that the war will drag out and our struggle will become even more
difficult.
If you comrades feel you can take things easy, now that our
People’s Army units have repelled the enemy from the areas north of
the 38th Parallel, you are greatly mistaken. We should not get drunk
with victory but resolve to fight more resolutely from now on and
make preparations for a crushing blow at the enemy.
Victory in the Fatherland Liberation War depends entirely on how
we prepare ourselves and fight. We should not underestimate the
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enemy but make foil preparations for a protracted war, and should
struggle more stubbornly.
We should, first of all, consolidate our success in the
counteroffensive and continue to intensify attack against the enemy.
The People’s Army units should take the initiative in battle and
chase the fleeing enemies until we annihilate them. For success in the
counteroffensive, we should strengthen our units’ attack from behind
enemy lines, as well as attack at the main front. The People’s Army
units and guerrillas operating in enemy-held areas should conduct
brisk activities deep behind the enemy. The enemy are much afraid of
our actions behind their lines. It is said that they have now issued an
order to their units not to march at night. The People’s Army units and
guerrillas behind enemy lines should wage an audacious and active
struggle to keep on annihilating the enemy, harassing them from the
back and foiling the advance of their reinforcements. At the same time,
they should liberate the enemy-occupied areas, relieve the people from
the yoke of enemy rule, educate the liberated people and bring them
dose to our fold.
If they are to succeed in their military actions, the People’s Army
units should tighten military discipline still further. Discipline is a
source of fighting efficiency. Everyone in the army, from commander
to soldier, should thoroughly establish a habit of observing military
discipline strictly and obeying orders and instructions unconditionally.
Next, we should strengthen the Party and enhance its role.
Our Party is the organizer and inspirer of all victories. Today our
Party shoulders the heavy burden of war, and ail the people completely
entrust their destiny to it. Only when we strengthen the Party and
heighten its role can we achieve final victory in the war.
What, then, should we do to strengthen the Party?
First, we should further enhance the unity and cohesion of ideology
and will of the Party through sharp criticism. Strengthening the unity
and cohesion of Party ranks is a basic guarantee for elevating the
Party’s fighting efficiency. Party organizations at all levels should
energetically encourage criticism and self-criticism among Party
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members so that they overcome in time wrong practices, which are
contrary to the Party’s ideas and firmly ensure the ideological unity
and cohesion of its ranks.
Second, we should further strengthen Party discipline. Party
organizations at all levels should carry out Party line and policy,
decisions and directives of higher bodies and uncompromisingly
combat violations of the Party’s organizational discipline.
Third, the method and style of Party leadership should be improved.
At present, some Party organizations substitute their guidance of
the lower bodies by adopting a decision and sending it down to them.
They ought not to do so. The officials of lower Party organizations still
lack experience in Party work, nor are their qualifications so high.
Therefore, if you guide the lower bodies in that way, they cannot
implement Party line and policy properly. All Party organizations from
the Party Central Committee to the county level should overcome the
formalistic method of leadership. Their officials should regularly go to
the lower echelons and teach their subordinates in detail how to
conduct organizational and political work for putting Party line and
policy into effect and how to work with Party members. The Party
Central Committee should give substantial guidance and help to
provincial Party organizations, and these organizations, in turn, to city
and county Party organizations. The city and county Party
organizations should guide sub-county organizations and Party cells in
a responsible manner. The General Political Bureau of the People’s
Army should also guide and help political organs under its control in
this way.
All Party organizations should lead every branch and unit to carry
out Party line and policy. In particular, Party leadership should be
strengthened in the People’s Army and interior organs so that they
implement Party policy thoroughly. Party organizations of the
People’s Army and interior organs should propagate Party policy
among the soldiers and interior workers and ensure its implementation,
and properly lead all the work of these bodies, so that it proceeds in
compliance with the requirements of Party policy.
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Some local Party organizations at present do not adequately aid the
work of Party organizations of the army and interior organs. This is
wrong. Local Party organizations should render active, day-to-day
assistance to them in their work. At the same time, appropriate help
should be given to the soldiers so that they do not breach discipline in
relation to the people. Since the People’s Army is the army of the
Party, its mistake immediately means the Party’s mistake. In case the
soldiers violate public discipline, the local Party organizations should
dispose of the case properly, so as not to weaken the ties between the
army and the people.
Fourth, we should quickly restore Party organizations in the
liberated areas.
Our Party is now confronted with the important task of achieving
final victory in the war. So we should concentrate our Party work on
this aim and subordinate everything else to this.
Party organizations at all levels should carry out effective
ideological education among Party members and other working
people. The latter should be so educated that all of them will devote
everything to the struggle for victory in the war, having firm faith in it,
and give active assistance to the People’s Army.
All Party organizations should strive to satisfy the needs of the front
It is very important to ensure a smooth supply of food for the
People’s Army units. The demand of provisions at the front has now
increased sharply, compared with the early days of the war. Under
these circumstances, supply of food for the army units should be
worked out meticulously, otherwise the fighters at the front can starve.
No matter what happens, we should improve food supply for the
People’s Army units. Party organizations, and Party members in the
people’s government bodies, in North and South Phyongan Provinces
and in South Hamgyong Province, in particular, should do this work
properly, with a sense of responsibility.
Party organizations should also pay due attention to the production
of weapons and other war supplies.
Steps should be taken to transport munitions, provisions, and other
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necessary goods satisfactorily. Trucking alone cannot fully meet the
requirements of the front. Therefore, Party organizations at all levels
should take steps to rehabilitate the damaged rail tracks quickly so as to
ensure railway transport.
Further, we should strengthen the work of the united front.
This is our Party’s consistent political line. Only when this is done
can we vigorously mobilize people from all walks of life for victory in
the war. All our Party organizations should not try to wield the
authority of the Party in power within the Democratic Front for the
Reunification of Korea, but should assist its work in every way. It is
not too much to say, indeed, that the united front work is part of our
Party work.
In strengthening the united front work it is important to help it
properly, by having close ties with friendly party organizations. At
present, some of our Party organizations and members regard the
Democratic and Chongu Parties as reactionary ones and are reluctant
to form a united front with them because many of their members were
engaged in reactionary activities in the days of our retreat. That is
improper.
Naturally, we should form a united front with our friends, in other
words, with the patriotic parties and social organizations, not with
reactionary ones. This is a principle our Party invariably maintains in
forming a united front.
Considering, however, the Democratic and Chongu Parties
reactionary because many of their members committed reactionary
acts and refusing to form a united front with them is mistaken. Judging
from their composition or policies, they are political parties with which
our Party can join hands. The Chongu Party, for instance, consists
mostly of poor peasants and has the programme of building a
prosperous, independent and sovereign state.
Why, then, did quite a few members of the Democratic and
Chongu Parties commit reactionary acts during the last retreat? It is
because they were taken in by the reactionaries who had sneaked into
their parties, due to their lack of class awakening. It is also partly
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because our Party organizations did not work skilfully with their
counterparts on the united front and failed to educate their members
properly.
Party organizations at all levels should strengthen the united front
with friendly party organizations and educate their members well, so
that they actively support and carry out the policies of the Government
of the Republic and themselves expose and get rid of loafers and
reactionary elements lurking within their ranks.
Further, we should do well the work of disintegrating the enemy
camp and struggle correctly against those who were involved in
reactionary organizations.
By properly disorganizing the enemy camp it is possible to throw
the enemy into confusion and this greatly contributes to hastening
victory in the war. We should actively undertake this work, using all
possible ways and means.
In some districts, at present, those who were affiliated with
reactionary organizations are got rid of at random, and this may turn
many people into foes. If we dispose of them thoughtlessly because
they were the former members of reactionary organizations, it will, in
the long run, hamper the growth of our forces. We should, therefore,
deal carefully with these people.
Party organizations at all levels should not paint them with the same
brush, but handle them on the principle that the prime movers and the
followers should be distinguished, the former isolated, and the latter
won over. In other words, the prime movers, the wicked elements,
should be severely punished, while those who have been deceived, the
passive elements, be generously forgiven and won over. Even though a
person committed atrocities, we should not dispose of him carelessly
but make the masses aware of his crimes so that they themselves can
judge and punish him.
Some time ago the Political Committee of the Party Central
Committee adopted and sent down a resolution on getting rid of the
reactionary elements and disposing of their property. All Party
organizations should define and dispose of the reactionary elements
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according to this resolution.
Next, we should stabilize the people’s livelihood and rebuild the
destroyed economy.
One of our important tasks today is to stabilize the people’s lives
which were deteriorated by the war. If we fail to stabilize their lives
because of the difficult war conditions, it will place a big obstacle in
the path of achieving victory in the war. At present, however, both the
State Planning Commission and the Ministry of Finance and all the
other ministries do not try to stabilize the people’s lives in a
responsible manner, complaining of one thing or another. If the state
organs took any step for their stabilization, it was only to put down in
each resolution that necessary commodities should be imported.
Provincial people’s committees, too, are not concerned about the
people’s livelihood. I heard the people in Kanggye, Jagang Province,
were supplied with maize as it was, so I ordered the chairman of the
provincial people’s committee to provide com meal for them, if it
meant having to build water mills. But he took no measures to carry it
out. It is seriously wrong that people’s government officials are
indifferent to the living conditions of the people.
We must not rely on other countries for solving the question of the
people’s livelihood, because it is wartime. However difficult this
question is, we should tackle it, relying on ourselves. Instead of simply
trying to build large light industry factories in safe areas and produce
necessary commodities, we should restore and run all the available
light industry factories, construct new medium and small-sized local
factories and organize a large number of producers’ cooperatives to
ensure the production of daily necessities. If we form and run many
producers’ cooperatives everywhere, we shall be able to solve the
problem of getting daily requirements to a great extent, even though
they use manual methods. The State Planning Commission and the
Ministry of Finance should work out a plan to produce them in this
manner and make a budget accordingly.
At the same time, all ministries and people’s committees should,
from now on, make necessary preparations for commencing the
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reconstruction of the national economy, as soon as the war is over.
Scientists and technicians should be enlisted to investigate the
damages to the economy and map out a plan for its rehabilitation. The
plan for postwar reconstruction should envisage not only the
restoration of the damaged economy but future prospects for our
economic development also.
At this plenary meeting the comrades who made grave blunders
before the Party criticized themselves, but they do not yet sincerely
repent their errors. A certain official was given many occasions to
examine himself and rectify his mistake, but even at this meeting he
failed to do so openheartedly. This is entirely wrong, as it is an
expression of a petty-bourgeois mentality. Some officials, who had
suffered Party penalties, made no effort to seek the ideological cause of
their mistakes and correct them. They did not criticize themselves
plainly, but endeavoured, instead, to discover the cause of their
mistakes in objective conditions. This is also a wrong attitude. The
workers who made mistakes should feel deep remorse for the
seriousness of their errors, on ideological grounds, and try hard to
correct them.
Following this plenary meeting, Party organizations at all levels
should bring home to every Party member what has been discussed
here. In particular, Party organizations in the People’s Army should
hold meetings of Party activists and take action to carry through the
decisions of this meeting.
I am convinced that all Party organizations and members will make
a great contribution to achieving final victory in the war, by carrying
out the decisions of this plenary meeting.
187
OUR ART SHOULD BE CONDUCIVE
TO EARLY VICTORY IN THE WAR
Talk with Writers, Artists and Scientists
December 24, 1950
I am satisfied very much with the fact that our writers, artists and
scientists have climbed mountains and crossed rivers to come here in
retreat, following the Party. I am very glad to meet you now. I have
been anxious to see you all the time.
On this occasion I would like to talk to you briefly about the tasks
before you.
At present the situation at the front is very encouraging. As I said
here, at the Third Plenary Meeting of the Party Central Committee a
few days ago, radical changes are taking place at the front and the
situation is turning in our favour.
With the evil intention of turning Korea into a permanent colony,
the US imperialist aggressors launched a general offensive, by
mobilizing all their forces on the Pacific along with the Mediterranean
Fleet. But they have been defeated again and again by the fresh
advance of our People’s Army.
The People’s Army which had made a strategic retreat for some
time took the counteroffensive after regrouping its forces and
reinforcing itself. Now our heroic People’s Army is advancing, with an
irresistible force, to south of the 38th Parallel in hot pursuit of the
fleeing enemy, destroying large numbers of them. Thunderstruck by
the new advance of our army, the US imperialist aggressors are trying
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desperately to make a last-ditch stand.
These aggressors had bragged that they would “conquer” our
country before “Christmas”, but their wild dream was blown up and
the myth of American “might” shattered by the valiant People’s Army.
This enhanced the position and prestige of our Republic
internationally, at the same time seriously shaking the prestige of US
imperialism.
The Korean people are sure to win the Fatherland Liberation War.
We can say this with confidence.
We are fighting a just war. Our People’s Army is defending its
country and people, and our front and rear are closely linked with each
other. Besides, our people are not alone in their struggle against the US
imperialist aggressors. The peoples of fraternal countries are giving
active material and moral support to the righteous struggle of our
people.
However, we cannot depend only on aid from other countries to win
the war. Victory depends wholly on the strength of our own people
fighting the US imperialist aggressors. The reunification and
independence of the country should be attained by the Korean people
themselves as it is their cause. Nobody else can do this in our stead. No
matter who may help and how, the question of our country must be
settled by us Koreans themselves.
No frantic efforts with large armed forces on the part of the US
imperialist aggressors can damp the indomitable spirit and heroic
mettle of our people who have risen up for national reunification and
independence. They will surely realize how great and inexhaustible the
united strength of the Korean people is, and how indomitable the
fighting spirit and aspiration of our people is, struggling for the
freedom and independence of their country.
The Korean people, united rock-firm around the Workers’ Party of
Korea, are defying death in the fight against the aggression of the US
imperialists. Their heroic struggle to smash the aggression and reunify
the country serves as the banner of the national-liberation movement of
the oppressed people all over the world against imperialist aggression.
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Our Party and people have the brilliant revolutionary traditions of a
long-drawn-out victorious armed struggle against the Japanese
imperialist aggressors. These traditions are the most precious roots of
our revolution. Since we inherited these revolutionary traditions, our
people could establish the people’s state power and build the
democratic base with their own hands, after liberation. Today they can
visualize with confidence ultimate victory in the war, successfully
repulsing the US imperialist aggression.
The most important task before our people at present is to render
active assistance to the People’s Army which continues to advance
southward, annihilating the US imperialist aggressors.
The people at the home front should manufacture more weapons
and ammunition to be used at the battle front. They should produce all
they can so as to help in winning final victory.
Our writers and artists should also devote all their wisdom and
ardour to this end.
Literature and art have a very great and important mission in the
struggle to win the war. Writers and artists should more vigorously
inspire our army and people towards victory in the war through their
literary and art activities.
The pen is the weapon of writers. Writers should create many
excellent works in order to inspire the people with confidence in
victory, arouse them to a burning hatred for the US imperialist invaders
and stir them up to fight the enemy heroically.
Writers should produce many works exposing the atrocities of the
US imperialists in particular.
These imperialists are the most cunning, ferocious and foul savages
of modem times. They are wolves who have massacred innumerable
Koreans brutally. Writers and artists should give a vivid description of
the slyness, cruelty, ferocity and savagery of the US imperialist wolves
so that their misdeeds are laid bare to the world.
What they should keep in mind while bringing to light the crimes of
the US imperialist aggressors is to go beyond the facts revealed in the
Korean war. They should thoroughly expose before the Korean people
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and the rest of the world their aggressive and predatory nature and the
long history of their bestiality. Only then can we rouse a strong feeling
of hatred for the aggressors among our people and disillusion them
about the United States.
Never before in their long history have the Korean people invaded
even an inch of the US land or infringed on its sovereignty.
However, the US imperialists have long harboured plans of
aggression against our country. They sent the pirate ship General
Sherman to plunder our country. Since then they have carried out
constant acts of aggression and plunder against the Korean people.
Not only have they tried through every vicious way and means to
invade Korea but have also peipetrated bestial atrocities upon the
Koreans. A wolfish American who had crept into Korea in the guise of
a missionary, committed the thrice-cursed crime of burning the word
“thief onto the forehead of a Korean boy with hydrochloric acid just
because he picked up an apple which had fallen from a tree in his
orchard. This is widely known. Does it not make one’s blood boil?
This is precisely the wolfish nature of the US imperialist aggressors.
Writers and artists should thoroughly expose the aggressive and
brutal nature of the US imperialists and lay bare their true colours as
wolves in sheep’s clothing, before our people and the rest of the world.
Even after liberation, they made every effort to enslave our people.
The US imperialist aggressors who occupied south Korea after
liberation forcibly broke down the people’s committees formed on the
initiative of the people, suppressed the patriotic, democratic forces and
arrested, imprisoned and slaughtered large numbers of patriots and
people at random. Besides, they set up a puppet regime by force of
arms, rejected the repeated proposals of the Government of the
Republic for reunifying the country peacefully, and instigated the
Syngman Rhee puppet clique to start a war of aggression against the
northern half of Korea.
As they suffered an ignominious defeat at the beginning of the war,
they reinforced themselves on a large scale to recover their losses and,
at the same time, embarked on furthering their intervention by
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mobilizing the troops of 15 satellite countries under the signboard of
“UN forces”. The US imperialist air pirates bombed towns, villages,
schools and hospitals indiscriminately and killed peaceful inhabitants
mercilessly. In particular, during their temporary occupation of the
northern half of Korea, they brutally massacred our people-young and
old, men and women. The horrors of the en masse killings by the
enemy in every nook and comer of our country including Pyongyang
and Sinchon are beyond description.
With no amount of deception can the US imperialist aggressors
conceal or justify the outrages perpetrated by them, in gross violation
of international law. Their savagery in Korea is the most disgraceful
crime ever committed in the history of mankind. Our people will never
forgive them for these crimes, but take revenge on them a thousand
fold.
Fair-minded people all over the world are extremely indignant at
the armed intervention of the US imperialist aggressors and the
outrages committed by them in our country. They express their
condemnation and hatred for them. On the other hand, they offer
unconditional support and encouragement to the Korean people who
are fighting heroically against the enemy.
We should lay bare a long history of their crimes, by citing concrete
facts.
Writers and artists should bring to light through novel, drama, film,
essay, caricature and other media that the US imperialists are wolves in
the skin of a human being and that they are the sworn enemy of the
Korean people.
A few days ago, an article written by one of our artists, appeared in
the foreign press; it is a bitter and infuriating story, relating how
ruthlessly the American imperialists killed the young daughter of a
Korean artist. It evoked a great response all over the world. What does
this mean? This means that the people of the world sympathize with us
and hate the US imperialists.
At present the Japanese reactionaries, too, are looking for an
opportunity to reinvade our country. They are heading for militarism
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and rearming themselves. We should not underestimate this danger but
sharpen our vigilance. Through their creations, writers and artists
should expose the atrocities of the Japanese militarists as well as the
US imperialists.
At the same time, they should vigorously conduct the mission of
widely publicizing the heroic struggle of our people.
They should also clearly convince the people that US imperialism is
doomed to failure and we are sure to win. Only then can the people
have a firm faith in victory and fight on bravely for final victory in the
war, overcoming all difficulties and obstacles.
The US imperialist aggressors bragged that they would “conquer”
Korea at a stroke, but are being steadily pushed back, while disclosing
their vulnerability as the days go by. But they are getting more frantic
in an attempt to recover their defeat. In the future, too, we may
encounter great difficulties and obstacles. But we should be bold
enough to overcome them, no matter what they are, and fight on more
courageously for victory in the sacred, just cause.
Artists should be active in giving performances to inspire the
People’s Army and the people fighting valiantly at the front and in the
rear.
Yesterday I saw a performance given by the artists. Its content is
satisfactory, and they are good at playing and singing. If the soldiers
and the people working in the background see such performances, they
will feel more confident of victory. Your performance provides us with
a fresh source of energy. Therefore, you should visit the front
frequently with even better programmes so as to boost the morale of
the soldiers.
Writers and artists should contribute to the struggle along with the
valiant soldiers of the People’s Army, who are fighting with arms in
hand against the US imperialist aggressors at the front. Our art should
be an art fighting together with the people, serving the country and
helping towards accelerating victory in the war.
College teachers, scientists and technicians are also present here. So
I would briefly enumerate their duties.
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After winning the war our tasks ahead are innumerable. We will
have to rehabilitate the damaged factories and enteiprises and, at the
same time, build many new ones and carry out our plan of socialist
industrialization.
Needless to say, our situation today is very difficult and arduous.
But, however unfavourable the conditions or numerous the hardships,
it is out of the question to compare it with the past when we were
engaged in the anti-Japanese armed struggle.
Although countless difficulties and obstacles stood in our way at
that time, the anti-Japanese revolutionary fighters hated the enemy
intensely and were firmly resolved to liberate the country. Due to this
they manufactured on their own various weapons including “Yongil”
bombs even in the mountains where there was nothing available, and
won the victory against the Japanese imperialist aggressors after
fighting them for fifteen long years.
Today we have the Party, the people’s government and the heroic
people. If we all fight with firm faith in victory we shall be able to tide
over all difficulties in our way and carry out any arduous jobs. It is
most important for you to have an unshakable faith in victory.
Scientists and technicians should not just sit back and mourn the
severe damages caused by the US imperialist aggressors to many
factories and enterprises-fruits of our people’s sweat and blood. They
should devote all their wisdom and talents and all their efforts to
winning the war. They should make the best use of existing conditions
and explore every possible resource to produce ammunition, thus
contributing their bit towards winning the war. At a time when the
country passes through harsh trials, true patriots are those who are
totally devoted to the heroic struggle to save the country.
College teachers, too, should not sit idle just because there are no
students. They also have a great deal of work to do.
We need many technical personnel in order to undertake the large-
scale reconstruction work after the war. Without solving the problem
of technical personnel we can neither ensure rehabilitation nor socialist
construction. As a result of colonial slave education forced by the
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Japanese imperialists, we had very few technicians and, still worse,
many of them were killed in the war. Training technical personnel,
therefore, is a very urgent task before us today. To solve this problem
we will have to send more students abroad to study and at the same
time, open our own colleges quickly to train many technicians for
ourselves. College teachers should settle down at an early date, arrange
college buildings, prepare their courses of study along with other
requisites like furniture and get hold of potential students.
In particular, great efforts should be made to solve the scarcity of
teachers. This can be done by arranging for teachers training courses
on a large scale.
Economists should contribute to drafting plans for the State
Planning Commission and architects draw up blueprints for postwar
rehabilitation. A plan should first be chalked out to reconstruct
Pyongyang, the democratic capital, magnificently. The city should not
be restored to its prewar state but rebuilt as a beautiful, magnificent,
modem city. All this should be kept in mind while drawing up a
blueprint for the city and starting preparations for this work.
Sound preparations should be made well in advance to restore the
damaged factories and enterprises including the Hungnam Fertilizer
Factory. It is necessary to conduct a detailed survey regarding the
damages and then work out scrupulous plans to rebuild them in phases.
Surveys should be made elaborately. Questions like finding out
damages to specific parts of machines and necessary repairs and the
degree of damages to buildings and method of reconstruction should
be tackled. At the same time, technical drawings for rebuilding
factories and enterprises should be prepared beforehand. Factories,
too, should not be restored to their original state but reconstructed and
expanded on the basis of the latest advances in science and technology.
In carrying out postwar reconstruction we might accept aid from the
peoples of fraternal countries. But we must not just sit and hope for
outside help without any preparations of our own. The masters of the
Korean revolution are the Korean people themselves. So we should
display a high revolutionary spirit of self-reliance with which to solve
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by our own efforts all problems arising in the revolution and
construction of our country.
On your return, you should clearly inform others of the Party’s
purpose and policies, so that they all turn out vigorously to aid the front
to win the war and start preparatory work for reconstruction.
Writers, artists and scientists should live in a revolutionary way to
serve the Party and the revolution in better faith, work enthusiastically
and set an example in all aspects, always taking high pride in being
revolutionaries. The more difficult and complicated the war becomes,
the harder you should study to fortify yourselves with our Party policy.
At present, you have a hard time in remote mountain villages where
conditions are poor. There may be more hardships than at present in the
course of our revolutionary struggle. If we are to emerge victorious in
the revolution we should break through difficulties. In this course,
people are tempered and emerge as revolutionaries.
I firmly believe that our writers, artists and scientists will devote
themselves to the struggle in order to carry out their noble mission
creditably.
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ON ORGANIZING AIRCRAFT-HUNTING
TEAMS
Order No. 238 of the Supreme Commander
of the Korean People’s Army
December 29, 1950
To ensure that the ground forces combat the enemy aircraft more
effectively, I issue the following order:
1. Every corps commander, military commissar, division
commander, regimental commander, political worker; and every
deputy coips commander, deputy division commander and deputy
regimental commander, for artillery, shall take air defence measures as
required by military regulations, and at the same time organize two to
three aircraft-hunting teams in each infantry regiment by January 5,
1951.
The aircraft-hunting teams shall be armed with large-calibre
machine guns, anti-tank guns with special devices, Goryunov heavy
machine guns, rifles, captured weapons and other types of weapons.
The aircraft-hunting teams shall have mobile firing positions near
villages, in military posts, by the roadside and in places where military
movement is under way and where the enemy air action is frequent.
2. An aircraft-hunting team shall have a force of one platoon
selected from among volunteers.
Special training shall be given to the team members and
demonstration lessons started on the day of their arrival at the firing
position. They should be taught how to build firing positions (primary
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and alternate), how to signal, how to give the words of command, how
to identify friend and foe, how to aim and shoot at different types of
aircraft.
Lessons for the team shall be given right at its firing position.
3. The members of aircraft-hunting teams shall be accorded an
additional pay which will be half as much as their basic pay and shall
be provided with cotton-wadded clothes and shoes and better meals.
4. A rifleman (or a gunner) or an individual soldier who shoots
down one enemy plane shall be awarded the National Flag Order
Second Class of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the
rest of the crew the National Flag Order Third Class; a rifleman (or a
gunner) or an individual soldier who brings down two enemy planes
shall be awarded the National Flag Order First Class and the rest of the
crew the National Flag Order Second Class; and a rifleman (or a
gunner) or an individual soldier who brings down three enemy planes
shall be awarded the Title of Flero of the DPRK and the rest of the crew
the National Flag Order First Class.
A rifleman (or a gunner) or an individual soldier who shoots one
enemy plane and damages it shall be awarded the Order of Soldiers
Flonour and the rest of the crew the Distinguished Service Medal.
The privates, noncommissioned officers and officers of an aircraft¬
hunting team who shoot down more than three enemy planes in three
months shall be permitted to visit their homes (their families and
relatives) on a 15-day leave.
5. This order shall be made known to all servicemen and the need to
combat enemy aircraft intensively shall be explained to them.
6. The implementation of this order shall be reported to me in
writing by liaison officers by January 8, 1951, and the division
commanders shall report the result of the work of the aircraft-hunting
teams to me directly every month.
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ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE THROUGHOUT
THE COUNTRY ON THE OCCASION
OF THE NEW YEAR 1951
January 1, 1951
Dear fellow countrymen, brothers and sisters,
Valiant officers and men of the People’s Army and men and women
guerrillas,
Greeting the new year 1951, on behalf of the Government of the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, I extend my fervent greetings
and honour to the officers and men of the People’s Army and all the
Korean people who are fighting heroically to win a brilliant victory in
the great Fatherland Liberation War.
The year 1950 was an epochal year unprecedented in the history of
our country. It was not only a year of struggle to build a new,
democratic country in peaceful conditions but also a historic year when
the great Fatherland Liberation War was fought against the invasion of
the US imperialists and their stooges. During the first half of the
previous year we made peaceful efforts to build a new, democratic
country and during the latter half we fought a fierce war to liberate the
country against the invasion of the US imperialists and their stooges,
the traitorous Syngman Rhee clique.
Dear compatriots, brothers and sisters,
At the instigation of the US imperialists, the inveterate enemy of the
Korean people, the traitorous Syngman Rhee clique launched an
invasion on the northern half of Korea on June 25 last year in
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opposition to the peaceful reunification of the country desired by all
the Korean people.
Our People’s Army, burning with boundless love for the country
and the people and with ardent loyalty to them, frustrated the invasion
of the Syngman Rhee puppet army against the northern half of Korea
and switched over to the counteroffensive. The valiant officers and
men of our People’s Army advanced down and liberated many towns
and villages in the southern half, destroying the enemy and winning
enthusiastic support and greetings from all the Korean people.
Scared by the powerful counterattack of the heroic People’s Army
and the ignominious defeat of the Syngman Rhee puppet army, the US
imperialists resorted to a massive direct armed intervention against our
country. The US imperialist marauders bombed our towns and villages
barbarously and massacred peaceful people. By their indiscriminate
bombing, the American imperialist aggressors drenched with people’s
blood our homeland cherished down through generations and burnt
down all our property-towns, villages, factories, enterprises, houses,
etc., built at the cost of the sweat and blood of our people.
The brutal armed intervention of the US imperialists, however, was
not able to break the fighting spirit of the Korean people who rose up in
a holy war to safeguard the freedom, independence and honour of the
country. In fact, the massive armed intervention and bestial air attacks
caused all our people to rise up in the great Fatherland Liberation War
with burning hostility and hatred for the enemy in order to wipe out the
American imperialist aggressors in our country.
In one month and more since the outbreak of the war, the heroic
Korean People’s Army advanced down to the south coast of our
country and right up to the Raktong River and liberated over 90 per
cent of the area of the south and 92 per cent of its population. In the
liberated area the people’s committees, the organs of genuine people’s
government, were set up and the agrarian and other democratic reform s
carried out.
The US imperialists sustained enormous military losses and a
shameful defeat in the war, but did not give up their aggressive design
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to make the whole of Korea their colony. They mobilized all their
army, navy and air force on the Pacific Ocean and expanded the
aggressive war against the Korean people.
Our People’s Army had to make a temporary strategic retreat
because of the counterattack by incomparably superior enemy
strength.
In this period the American imperialist aggressors and their lackeys
occupied most of the northern half of Korea and committed all sorts of
brutalities, slaughtering and raping millions of our fine sons and
daughters. The Korean people will never forget the fiendish barbarities
peipetrated by the US imperialists and the traitorous Syngman Rhee
clique and will take revenge a thousand times over.
In the grim days when the destiny of the country was at stake, all
the Korean people fought heroically without yielding in the slightest
degree, rallied closer around the Workers’ Party of Korea and the
Government of the Republic. The Party members and patriotic people
who remained behind enemy lines organized guerrilla units and dealt
sledge-hammer blows at the American imperialist invaders
everywhere. In the most difficult days of the temporary retreat the
Korean people, indeed, fought to the last drop of their blood, fearing no
hardships and sacrifices, and were firmly determined to wipe out the
US imperialist aggressors and win the ultimate victory in the
Fatherland Liberation War.
Our People’s Army retreated temporarily in order to preserve its
main force from enemy encirclement and gain a breathing space to
organize reserve forces and prepare for a counteroffensive. The
Korean People’s Army made a successful strategical retreat, while
dealing telling blows at the enemy and thus fully demonstrated its
indestructible fighting power. Through the arduous retreat it gained a
wealth of combat experience and grew to be a stronger, invincible
army.
In less than two months since the commencement of the retreat the
heroic People’s Army regrouped its forces in order to be able to launch
a powerful counteroffensive. At this time the Chinese people sent the
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Volunteers of their own sons and daughters to the Korean front. Our
valiant army launched the counteroffensive in cooperation with the
Chinese People’s Volunteers, and the great Fatherland Liberation War
entered a new stage.
Soon after the start of the counterattack the heroic People’s Army,
the guerrillas active in the enemy rear and the units of the Chinese
People’s Volunteers in close cooperation encircled and annihilated the
enemy who had invaded the area north of the Chongchon River and on
December 6 liberated Pyongyang, the democratic capital. At present
they have not only driven out the enemy from the whole area north of
the 38th Parallel, but are advancing further south in pursuit of the
enemy fleeing in disorder, liberating Kaesong, Yonbaek and many
other places south of the 38th Parallel.
It is now clearer that the Korean people will ultimately win the great
Fatherland Liberation War for defending the freedom, independence
and honour of the country. Today the progressive people the world
over have no doubt that the US imperialists and the traitorous Syngman
Rhee clique are doomed to failure in their war of aggression against
our country and people. Even the imperialist camp, including US
imperialism, admits that its war in Korea is in a hopeless crisis.
What, then, are the reasons to believe that US imperialism will be
defeated and that the Korean people will emerge victorious in the
Korean war?
The struggle of the Korean people against the US imperialist
invaders is a just war to defend the freedom, independence and honour
of their country. Human history shows that a righteous war will be
successful and that an unjust war will fail.
US imperialism was blind to the inexhaustible strength of the
Korean people who hold state power firmly in their hands and to the
solidity of the people’s government set up in the northern half of
Korea. It underestimated the indestructible might of our army and the
stability of our home front. That was why the US imperialists bragged,
when they started direct invasion on our country by mobilizing huge
army, navy and air forces, that they could conquer our Republic and
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reach the A mn ok River before “Christmas”, December 25. But the
ensuing developments of the situation clearly showed that the enemy’s
calculation was very indiscreet and empty. The piratic plan of
aggression worked out by the American imperialists, who attempted to
crush the fledgling People’s Army at one stroke and swallow up Korea,
was completely frustrated by the heroic struggle of the People’s Army
and all the Korean people.
The US imperialists had a pipe dream of defeating our army by an
initial surprise attack because it was young. The enemy miscalculated
grossly in that they overrated their own military power and
underestimated the capability of the People’s Army. True, our People’s
Army is still young. Nevertheless, its spiritual and moral qualities are
incomparably superior to those of the US imperialist army of
aggression.
The American imperialist aggressor troops are marauders by
profession who are politically and morally corrupt and undisciplined.
In contrast, the soldiers of the Korean People’s Army are a genuine
army of the people who, deeply convinced of the justness of their
cause, are fighting at the cost of their lives in defence of the freedom,
independence and honour of their homeland. Its noble ideological and
moral qualities are the source of our army’s invincibility and one of the
essential guarantees for the ultimate victory of the war. By virtue of its
incomparable political and moral superiority over the imperialist
aggressor army, the People’s Army could administer heavy blows at
the US imperialist aggressors who are numerically and technically
superior and the most brutal in the world, successfully ensure the
organized withdrawal of its main force without the slightest vacillation
even in the hardest days of the temporary retreat and go over to the
counteroffensive by forming more powerful forces in a matter of two
months. The previous course of the war testified to the indestructible
strength of the Korean People’s Army.
Estimating that our people’s government and the home front would
be unstable, the US imperialists had an illusion that the home front
would soon crumble if they should surprise the People’s Army. But it
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was a sheer delusion. Ours is a solid home front which provides the
battle front with the all-out support of the people. All the people in the
rear turned out as one to support the front, in hearty response to the call
of the Government of the Republic: “Everything for the front!” and
“Everything for victory in the war!” The superiority of the genuine
people’s government which was established by our people themselves
after liberation and whose masters are the people themselves, was
proved more clearly in the war against the US imperialist invaders. The
superiority of the people’s government and the stability of the rear,
fully confirmed in the foregoing process of the war, are one of the
important factors in winning the ultimate victory.
Another factor for the inevitable and ultimate triumph in the great
Fatherland Liberation War is that the Korean people are not isolated in
their struggle against the American imperialist invaders.
The aim of the US imperialists was not limited to seizing Korea and
turning the Korean people into their colonial slaves when they
instigated the traitorous Syngman Rhee clique to provoke a fratricidal
war and resorted to a direct invasion on the northern half of Korea.
Their sinister plot was not only to occupy our country but also to use it
as their strategic base to invade the whole of Asia and conquer the
whole world. Accordingly, the righteous Fatherland Liberation War of
the Korean people against the invasion of the American imperialists
and in defence of the freedom, independence and honour of the country
is not only a historic event which marks a new page in the history of
our country, but serves as the banner of the national-liberation struggle
of all the oppressed people throughout the world against imperialist
aggression. That is why hundreds of millions of freedom-loving people
all over the world are giving active support and encouragement to and
showing their sympathy for the Korean people in their just war, and
today their voice is reverberating round the world, as they shout, “US
imperialists, hands off Korea!”
The Soviet people are invariably giving immense aid to the Korean
people in the great Fatherland Liberation War. The Chinese people in
particular have dispatched the Chinese People’s Volunteers consisting
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of their sons and daughters to join the war for destroying the US
imperialist aggressors, the common enemy. Besides, the peoples of
Hungary, Mongolia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania and
other People’s Democracies are giving much aid to our fighting
people.
All this is a major guarantee for the ultimate and inevitable victory
of the Korean people over the US imperialist invaders in the great
Fatherland Liberation War.
Dear fellow countrymen, brothers and sisters,
Men and officers of the heroic Korean People’s Amy and men and
women guerrillas,
Hard hit by the powerful counteroffensive of the heroic Korean
People’s Amy and Chinese People’s Volunteers, the enemy is
retreating on in disorder. The initiative in the war is now completely in
our hands, but we cannot be self-complacent nor can we relax in the
least. Though badly hit, the enemy has not yet been annihilated but is
making more frantic efforts to attain its sinister aim. Hence, we are still
faced with the unaccomplished sacred task of destroying the American
imperialist aggressors, the enemy, and completely freeing our dear
homeland from the enemy’s blood-stained claw.
Although the road to the ultimate victory is wide open before us, we
have yet to overcome many hardships and difficulties to attain the goal.
Crossing all these barriers bravely, unafraid of sacrifices, is the only
way to the ultimate victory.
To make the new year 1951 a year of decisive triumph in the
Fatherland Liberation War, 1 put forward the following tasks before all
the Korean people.
Everyone should subordinate all his work to the interests of the
front, for victory in the war. As the People’s Amy advances, the
frontline stretches and the distance between the front and the rear
grows longer. So the work of supporting the front should be organized
more swiftly to satisfy its demands.
Workers and technicians should further improve their level of
technique and skill, ensure munition production by turning all possible
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conditions to good account and prepare for the rapid rehabilitation of
the damaged factories, mines, and other enterprises. In addition, light
industry factories, enterprises and producers’ cooperatives should be
quickly rehabilitated and expanded so as to provide clothing and other
daily necessities for those who have lost their homes and household
goods in the war.
Transport workers should rebuild on an extensive scale the
railways, roads and bridges destroyed by the fleeing enemy to ensure
all military movements and the transport of war supplies satisfactorily.
Peasants should do this year’s spring ploughing in time and
concentrate all efforts on farming in order to provide the People’s
Army, the workers and office employees with provisions. All the
peasants should strive to economize in food and increase production
under the slogan, “The struggle for food is a struggle for the country.”
Scientists and artists should help all the people to increase their
ideological awareness so that they can fight for the country and the
people at the risk of their lives. They should actively contribute to the
victory of the war and the rehabilitation of the national economy by
dedicating all their knowledge and talents. At the same time, they
should get down to the work of rehabilitating the damaged educational
and cultural establishments.
In the newly liberated areas, order should be quickly restored, the
ravaged towns, villages and industrial, transport and cultural facilities
rehabilitated and the people freed from the colonial fascist rule of the
US imperialists provided with stabilized life as soon as possible.
The officers and men of the People’s Army should strive to
improve their skill still further and tighten military discipline and
organization. Commanding officers at all echelons should improve the
quality of their leadership, ensure better coordination among units and
greater mobility in action, and adopt the excellent combat experience
of the Guards units widely in their battles. It is also necessary to
improve and develop the reconnaissance activities of the People’s
Army in various ways. In this way the momentum of attack will
increase further and deny the retreating enemy a breathing space to
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build new defences and regroup their forces.
Men and women guerrillas should surprise the enemy ceaselessly
from behind, cut off their traffic routes and destroy their means of
transport and communications. Thus they will help the attacking
People’s Army in every way and allow not an invader to return home
alive.
Dear compatriots, brothers and sisters,
Greeting the new year 1951, let us fight on more dynamically
towards victory in the great Fatherland Liberation War.
Glory to the Korean people forging ahead vigorously towards
victory!
Glory to the heroic Korean People’s Army, the men and women
guerrillas and the Chinese People’s Volunteers!
Long live our glorious motherland!
Annihilate the US imperialist marauders and the traitorous
Syngman Rhee clique in a thousandfold revenge!
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ON THE OCCASION OF THE LIBERATION
OF SEOUL
Order No. 7 of the Supreme Commander
of the Korean People’s Army
January 5, 1951
By launching determined offensive operations all along the front
line, together with the units of the Chinese People’s Volunteers, the
Korean People’s Army forces again liberated Seoul, the capital of our
country, at 16:00 on January 4, 1951.
Our army’s liberation of Seoul is a victory of great political
significance. The attempt of the US imperialists to retain Seoul was
foiled.
While fleeing from Seoul, the American imperialist aggressor army
devastated the city and slaughtered a large number of patriots who had
fought heroically against the invaders.
Sacrifices in the fight against the US imperialist barbarians, burnt
down towns and villages and the debris of Seoul which was a national
and cultural centre of our country-all this is calling every patriot of our
nation, men, noncommissioned officers, officers and generals of the
People’s Army and men and women guerrillas to an even more
devoted and heroic struggle.
Our valiant men and officers of the People’s Army,
Men and women guerrillas,
Officers and men of the fraternal Chinese People’s Volunteers,
Go forth untiringly with your pursuit of the enemy and destroy
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them by surrounding their units and combined units! Encircle and
assault them day and night, giving them no breathing space, strike at
their vital communications, and destroy their troops and combat
equipment! Liberate the people from under the occupation of the US
imperialist aggressors as soon as possible!
Hasten the ultimate victory of the Korean people over the foreign
invaders! Let the US imperialist invaders know that they should have
left Korea long ago.
On the occasion of the liberation of Seoul, I felicitate you on our
victory and express my thanks to all the servicemen, who served with
distinction in the fight to liberate Seoul.
We express heartfelt thanks for and great satisfaction with the
heroic struggle of the Chinese People’s Volunteers, who are
supporting our people in their struggle against the US imperialist
invaders.
In celebration of the triumphant battle to liberate Seoul, a salute of
24 shells shall be fired respectively by 240 guns in Pyongyang and
Seoul at 20:00 Pyongyang time today, January 5.
An immortal honour to the men and officers of the People’s Army
and the men and women guerrillas who laid down their lives in the
battles for the freedom and independence of the country!
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ON THE PRESENT SITUATION AND
THE IMMEDIATE TASKS
OF THE DEMOCRATIC
YOUTH LEAGUE ORGANIZATIONS
Speech at the Joint Conference of the Central
Committees of the Democratic Youth
Leagues of North and South Korea
January 18, 1951
On behalf of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea
and the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, I
would like to extend warm congratulations to the Joint Conference of
the Central Committees of the Democratic Youth Leagues of North
and South Korea, and through this conference, express my gratitude to
all the young people who have displayed heroism and devotion in the
great Fatherland Liberation War.
The DYL members who have been trained and brought up by our
Party in the past five years, are now giving full play to their heroism in
the struggle against the US imperialists and setting an example of
loyalty to the country and the people. As you all know, most of the men
in the People’s Army are young people and activists of our Workers’
Party. They are fighting valiantly for the country and the people in
defiance of all difficulties and sacrifices.
As has already been reported in many newspapers and magazines,
the young people are now playing the vanguard role at the front and in
the rear, without the least fear of sacrificing their lives for the country
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and the people. This heroic struggle of the Korean people and youth in
the Fatherland Liberation War amazes the world public.
Numerous examples of such a heroic struggle are being set
especially by the young people serving in the People’s Army. On the
Raktong River front many young soldiers of the People’s Army hurled
themselves at enemy tanks with hand grenades and destroyed them by
sacrificing their lives.
In the navy the young men manning a small torpedo boat dashed
into the midst of the enemy fleet and attacked and sa nk a heavy cruiser.
A torpedo boat sending a heavy cruiser to the bottom is a rare instance
in the world history of naval battles.
Young people are also displaying outstanding bravery in air battles.
In the past, under Japanese imperialist rule, our Korean youth had no
opportunity of learning to fly an aircraft nor could they hope for such
an opportunity. However, despite their insufficient training and
experience, our Workers’ Party members and young people are
showing courage and self-sacrifice in shooting down or damaging
enemy planes in air battles.
When we asked US army prisoners what they feared most in a battle
with our People’s Army, they said they were most afraid of the bayonet
charges. As a matter of fact, a revolutionary army employs
hand-to-hand fighting more than any other army. This clearly shows
our People’s Amy to be a brave revolutionary army.
Tens of thousands of young Workers’ Party members and
Democratic Youth League members in our People’s Amy fought to
the last drop of blood for the country and the people and the Workers’
Party of Korea. More than 50 youths from among them have been
awarded the title of Hero, the highest honour to be bestowed on a
citizen of the Republic.
Not only in the People’s Amy but also on our railways and at our
factories, the young people have demonstrated patriotic devotion and
loyalty to the motherland.
One of our greatest difficulties in waging the Fatherland Liberation
War was the bombing and destruction of our railways by the US
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imperialists. However, from the very first days of the war our young
people working in railway transport restored the railways and bridges
promptly despite the enemy’s ceaseless bombing raids and destruction,
thus making it possible for trains to run to the front line.
In particular, the young engine drivers drove their trains to the front
without tearing air raids, and saved their locomotives and freight cars
from the bombings of enemy planes at the cost of their lives. This is
because the locomotive drivers, though young, did their duty faithfully
in the realization that the railways were the artery linking the front with
the rear in the Fatherland Liberation War being waged to defend the
independence, freedom and honour of the motherland, and that smooth
wartime transport was one of the major factors ensuring victory at the
battle front.
Since the outbreak of the war the young workers of Factory No. 65
have more than tripled the production of weapons compared with the
prewar period. Here many young Workers’ Party members and fine
DYL members played an exemplary role.
Moreover, in all the other factories, coal and ore mines, farming and
fishing villages in the rear, too, the young people have bravely fought
for the country and the people.
Furthermore, in the enemy rear and in the areas temporarily occupied
by the enemy, the young people, nothing daunted, formed guerrilla
detachments under the leadership of the Workers’ Party and fought and
dealt heavy blows to the enemy. In the areas temporarily occupied by the
enemy, they killed, wounded or captured enemy men, destroyed the
enemy’s transport, attacked and set fire to his food and ordnance depots,
wiped out vicious reactionary elements and conducted explanatory and
information work to inspire the people with greater confidence in
victory and expose the atrocities of the enemy. Thus they harassed the
enemy in the rear and greatly hampered his advance.
This conference is attended also by the boys who formed Children’s
Guards and fought courageously. In many areas children organized
Children’s Guards and young people Youth Guards and fought bravely
against the enemy.
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This is the outcome of the fact that since the day when it formed the
Democratic Youth League, our Workers’ Party has given proper
education to the young people and reared them in a spirit of patriotism
and self-sacrifice.
We pay tribute to the brilliant exploits of the young people who
displayed gallantry in the great Fatherland Liberation War and highly
appreciate the work of the DYL that helped the Party in educating the
youth properly and mobilizing them for victory in the war.
Dear young comrades,
I would like to refer briefly to the changes that have taken place in
the military and political situation since the war started.
It is common knowledge that our heroic People’s Army
counterattacked the enemy who had invaded the area north of the 38th
Parallel, and pushed ahead as far as the Raktong River sector, inflicting
a crushing blow on him. However, the US imperialists mobilized all
their forces stationed in the Pacific area, landed a huge armed force at
Inchon and cut off our army troops on the southern front. So, our
People’s Army made a temporary strategic retreat in order to regroup
and reorganize its forces and deal a new, decisive blow to the enemy.
Our situation was very difficult during the temporary retreat, the
second stage of the war. Our main units were encircled in the southern
half and our newly formed units were not yet prepared enough to
counterattack the enemy who had invaded the northern half of Korea
with a superior force. Therefore, the enemy continued to advance and
marched into the area north of the Chongchon River. A grave situation
was created in our country. But we are not alone in our struggle. The
Chinese people immediately took up arms and entered the Korean war.
With a view to tiding over the grave crisis created in our country,
the Korean People’s Army built up its strength and then encircled and
wiped out the enemy en masse north of the Chongchon River, thus
frustrating his offensive. Further, the People’s Army finally went over
to a counterattack, has crossed the 38th Parallel and is now driving the
enemy forces into the Suwon and Wonju sectors.
The military and political situation has now changed decisively in
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our favour and the aggressive ambition of the enemy is doomed to total
failure.
The US imperialist aggressors are now trying to recover from their
ignominious defeat. However, the main force of the US imperialists
and the traitorous Syngman Rhee clique has already suffered a heavy
blow. Both militarily and politically the tide has turned against the US
imperialist aggressors,
Even the reactionary ruling circles in the United States are now
raising a cry of distress. They are noisily calling for moving the
“MacArthur Defence Line” from Korea to the Japan and Taiwan area.
In the United States they blame one another for the war. Truman is
shifting the responsibility on to others, saying, “The war was started
because the UN asked for it.” This shows that the Korean war is not
popular even among the US ruling circles and that opinion is split
about it. Over 50 UN member states, allies and sycophants of the US
imperialists, are also wavering.
Comrades, for all that, if you think that the US imperialist
aggressors will withdraw meekly without putting up any resistance,
you are grossly mistaken. You must know that although they have
difficulties and contradictions as mentioned above, they will never quit
Korea readily, and will not withdraw their blood-stained hands of
aggression from Korea until we deal them a decisive blow.
The enemy’s internal contradictions and disunion are now getting
worse and worse, his morale is sagging and his fighting capacity is also
dwindling. We won battles even when the enemy was strong, so it is
quite obvious that we can defeat him and win now that he has become
weaker.
Now, how is it the US imperialists have been so rash as to stretch
out their aggressive hands to Korea?
The US imperialists thought that once they growled and threatened,
the Koreans would readily submit. They calculated that savage
bombings and naval bombardments could easily bring the Korean
people to their knees.
The US imperialist aggressors nursed delusions that because
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American missionaries had administered religious opium to the
Koreans for 40-50 long years in Korea preaching a sermon from the
Bible that “Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him
the other also. Then thou shall go to Heaven,” and thus making the
Korean people incapable of putting up resistance, they could easily
conquer and make them colonial slaves. They regarded the Koreans in
the same light as their stooge Syngman Rhee.
As a matter of fact, in the past there were many servile people like
Syngman Rhee. As we all know, the corrupt nobility, the ruling class,
yielded to the threat of the Japanese imperialists and sold out Korea to
them.
But what is it that the Yanks do not know today? The US
imperialists either do not know or, if they do know, underestimate the
fact that in the past five years full democratic freedom has been
ensured in the northern half of Korea, and that in the forefront of the
Korean people stands the Workers’ Party of Korea which consists of
progressive elements of the working class, the most patriotic and most
advanced class, and the peasantry and the working intelligentsia, and is
firmly equipped with Marxism-Leninism. They are unaware that the
Workers’ Party of Korea always leads the youth and all the people to
well-being, progress and victory and not to stagnation, degeneration
and ruin as did the feudal reactionary ruling class. They are ignorant of
the fact that the Workers’ Party of Korea is a powerful political party
which fights its way through any difficulties in order to defend the
interests of the country and the people and that it closely rallies around
itself all patriotic people and the youth.
The Workers’ Party of Korea mobilized the people and set up a
genuine people’s government and introduced historic democratic
reforms such as the agrarian reform, the nationalization of industries,
the Labour Law, and the Law on Sex Equality. As a result, the people
have come to enjoy freedom and a happy life, something they did not
know before, and become genuine masters of the country holding the
destiny of their country in their hands, and masters of the factories and
lands. The Korean people and youth of today are not by any means the
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same as those who lived under feudal rule in the past, but are militant
and awakened people and youth educated in a revolutionary spirit; they
are ready to fight the enemy bravely in defending the country’s
freedom, independence and honour and their own rights and happy
life, and what is more can defeat him.
In the past under the protracted colonial rule of Japanese
imperialism, we led a miserable life as a stateless people, the mere
thought of which shocks us now. When we were faced with the
alternative: to repeat the bitter life of a ruined people or to take the road
of democratic development leading to happiness as eternal masters of
the factories and lands with power in our own hands, we, the Korean
people, knew for sure which road we should take and unhesitatingly
rose as one man and chose the second alternative.
The Korean people and youth were properly educated by our Party
in the five years following liberation. As a result, they bravely rose in
arms against the enemy without the least hesitation despite the fact that
the US imperialists had launched a barbarous invasion with the
powerful armed forces and superior techniques, conducted bestial
blanket bombings and naval bombardments, massacred people and, in
particular, despite the fact that the US imperialists were joined by their
15 satellites in this invasion.
It is precisely the Workers’ Party of Korea that founded and reared
the heroic People’s Army, the revolutionary armed force of the Korean
people. Had our Party not organized the People’s Army in time, it
would have been impossible to check the US imperialists’ aggression.
It was because our Party organized the People’s Army in good time,
provided arms to the young people, true sons and daughters of the
Korean people, and educated them in patriotism, that the People’s
Army was able to repulse the enemy’s invasion and deal crushing
blows to the aggressors and was able to defend the country and people.
According to the latest news from the front, the Second Corps did
not retreat but remained in the Cholwon sector. There they are
regrouping the People’s Army units returning from the south and on
instructions from above, are bravely fighting in coordination with the
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main units advancing from the north. They have fought selflessly on to
carry out the tasks assigned them by the Party and the Government of
the Republic, most of the officers and soldiers of the coips still in
summer uniforms in this cold winter, putting on self-made straw
sandals when their army boots were worn out and raiding the enemy to
seize ammunition when they had run out of it. They have now crossed
the 38th Parallel, and are leading the van of the People’s Army,
pounding away at the fleeing enemy. Their eyes are blazing with
revenge.
When they returned across the 38th Parallel during the temporary
retreat, the officers and soldiers of the Second Corps and other
retreating units saw how everything they had built by their creative
labour and by their sweat and blood during the past five years,
including factories, towns, villages and schools, had been ruthlessly
destroyed and reduced to ashes. The sight inflamed their enmity and
revengeful thoughts more fiercely. The fighting spirit of our People’s
Army men is now at its zenith.
The longer our People’s Army fight on, the firmer becomes their
unity; they are seething with a resolve to destroy to the last man the
enemy forces who bum our people’s property and murder our beloved
parents, brothers and sisters. Herein lies the main factor enabling our
People’s Army to drive the enemy farther south from Suwon and win
the final victory.
The mercenaries of the US imperialists on the other hand do not
know why or for whom they are fighting; their fighting spirit is
declining with each passing day, and they are becoming morally
degenerated.
The enemy is in no position now to bring more forces to Korea. It is
difficult for the enemy to bring more troops across the Pacific, and if he
does, he will have a very hard time of it because it is a very long
distance.
The peoples of the fraternal countries and the freedom-loving
people throughout the world are standing behind us. Their material and
moral aid is increasing every day. The Chinese people even sent their
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Volunteers units when we found ourselves in a most difficult situation.
They are now fighting against the common enemy, the US imperialist
aggressors, shoulder to shoulder with our People’s Army.
As for the imperialist camp, its most powerful force, the US
imperialists, has pounced upon us only to find itself in a great fix, but
our camp of peace and democracy still has considerable reserves.
With regard to manpower resources, technology and morale, today
the camp of peace and democracy is stronger than the imperialist
camp. The imperialist camp has already revealed its incompetence and
vulnerability in the Korean war, but our strength remains inexhaustible
and will further grow and expand in the future.
We have nothing to fear with regard to manpower, technology and
morale. Our Party and the Korean people are certain to win. Leading
all the people and youth our Party and the Government of the Republic
will surely win a glorious victory in the end.
Such is the military and political situation in our country at the
present moment.
Dear young comrades,
The US imperialists are crafty and insidious. The enemy is making
a desperate effort and will do, to muster his forces again and doggedly
continue his aggressive war and expand it by clinging to even one
comer of Korea for a long time.
In order to secure profits in the aggressive war, the US robbers
unhesitatingly commit any barbarities and evil acts. The enemy will
not withdraw meekly.
We must completely destroy the enemy with our own forces. The
farther the enemy is driven into a narrow strip of land, the harder our
struggle will become. As the Korean saying goes, the last pass is the
hardest to cross. You must understand clearly that it is the last stage of
a war when a glorious victory is in sight that is the hardest of all.
You must proceed to faithfully carry out the new tasks confronting
the Democratic Youth League if you are to add lustre to the exploits
performed by the youth for the country and the people in the past
period of the war.
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The DYL, a reliable reserve of our Workers’ Party, should mobilize
to the full all its forces in the decisive struggle for the final victory of
the great Fatherland Liberation War.
For this purpose, first, the youth in the People’s Army should
faithfully carry out the orders of their commanders and superiors,
strengthen military discipline and order in their units, and carry out
their combat duties no matter what the difficulties. In this struggle
young Party members and DYL members should play an exemplary
role. When you encounter difficulties and the battle becomes arduous,
you must establish more rigid iron military discipline.
The DYL members in the army should prize and take a loving care
of the weapons and ammunition they have received from the people
like the apple of their eye, be more proficient in handling various
weapons, steadily improve their marksmanship and combat
capabilities, toughen their bodies and set an example to all young
people in maintaining combat readiness to wipe out the enemy no
matter when and where.
The youth in our People’s Army should also further strengthen their
ties with the people, combat more thoroughly and more relentlessly the
tendency to harm or go back on their interests, love and help them. In
particular, they should intensify information and motivation work in
the liberated areas, so that the people have a firmer confidence in the
enemy’s inevitable defeat and our sure victory and a deeper love for
and trust in the People’s Army.
Second, the DYL organizations and youth behind the enemy lines
must assist the advancing People’s Army units and actively help the
guerrillas to widen their sphere of activity.
A DYL organization should be formed in every village and DYL
members should be induced to correctly combine guerrilla warfare
with legal struggle.
Moreover, DYL members should go behind the enemy lines to
form armed information squads and conduct explanatory and
information work among the people, thereby firmly rallying the people
and youth in the enemy rear around the Party and the Government. In
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particular, the DYL should educate its fine members properly, then
send them into the enemy rear to disintegrate the enemy forces,
conduct information work in the villages by various means and arouse
the people to rebel against the occupation forces.
Third, all the youth in the factories and villages of the liberated
areas should be mobilized to rebuild the ravaged factories, enterprises,
and cultural establishments as well as towns and villages.
The rural youth should participate enthusiastically in building new
houses, stabilizing the people’s livelihood and relieving war victims.
Especially our youth should give active assistance to oiphans,
shelterless old people and families of servicemen, and take an active
part in building schools for the bereaved children of People’s Army
officers and soldiers, guerrillas and patriotic martyrs who have been
killed in the Fatherland Liberation War. DYL organizations must
explain and propagate on a wide scale the importance of opening
schools for bereaved children, ensuring that all these children go to
school, and competent teachers are assigned to these schools to give
them a good education.
Another important task is to mobilize the rural youth to prepare for
this year’s spring ploughing and sowing. This spring we shall have to
plough the fields and sow seed under difficult conditions where
manpower and draught animals are short. Failure on the spring
ploughing and sowing front would mean failure at the battle front,
while victory on the sowing front would signify victory at the battle
front. The struggle for food is a struggle for the country and for victory
at the front. Therefore, the rural youth should select good seed, obtain
farm implements, organize work rationally, take further steps to
prevent the slaughtering of draught cattle and actively participate in
preparations for the spring ploughing and sowing so as to increase food
production.
Young women in the rural areas should perform labour exploits on
the front for augmenting the output of farm produce in place of their
husbands and brothers who are at the battle front, and fulfd their
honourable duty with credit as befits those in charge of the rear.
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Along with this, young people should shaipen vigilance against the
enemy and actively participate in the work of detecting and exposing
spies, subversive elements and saboteurs who have sneaked into
factories and villages as well as those rascals who joined reactionary
organizations during the enemy’s temporary occupation and
committed evil reactionary acts. They should detect reactionary
elements and bring the waverers over to our side, thereby checking the
vicious manoeuvres of the enemy to harass our rear in advance and
consolidating it as firm as rock.
Fourth, the youth should turn out to strengthen wartime transport
including railway transport and ensure a smooth flow of goods to the
front. Railway transport plays a key role in the war and the duty of the
youth working in this branch is indeed important. Smooth wartime
transport is one of the chief factors guaranteeing victory on the fighting
front. We have large quantities of war supplies such as arms,
ammunition, clothes, food and gasoline, but their unsatisfactory
transport causes a considerable hindrance in achieving victory at the
front. For instance, because of poor transport we had difficulties during
our operations to cross the Raktong River.
Therefore, the work of the DYL should be further stepped up in the
field of railway transport. Damaged railways, bridges and roads should
be restored and repaired without delay, larger quantities of munitions
transported more quickly to meet the demands of the front, and trains
should be dispatched to the front despite all difficulties and obstacles.
Fifth, DYL organizations should take the responsibility for the
hygienic and anti-epidemic work in towns and the countryside. It is
now feared that due to the war, various epidemics and other diseases
may break out and become widespread.
Therefore, hygienic squads and epidemic prevention teams should
be formed to fortify hygienic and anti-epidemic work and thus prevent
various infectious diseases and protect the people’s health.
Sixth, the DYL should further intensify information and motivation
work among the people and the masses of youth. In the present
situation when fierce battles are in progress, information and
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motivation is one of our most important tasks. Nevertheless, this work
is so far poorly carried out.
In many areas liberated from the enemy’s temporary occupation
people are not yet fully convinced of victory, they doubt our ultimate
victory in the war, and fail to settle down. This is to be attributed to
inadequate information and motivation work.
The DYL should mobilize young people, particularly young
women, teachers, students and children, to conduct extensive
explanatory and information work among the youth and people from
all walks of life.
At present radio broadcasting is also unsatisfactory, the number of
publications including newspapers is small and their distribution is
delayed. In order to explain all the Party and Government decisions
and policies to the people and inform them in good time of the situation
at the front, we should dispatch the largest possible number of
newspapers more quickly to the countryside. While more sessions for
reading newspapers and other publications are held, information and
motivation work should be conducted by various methods such as
report meetings, lectures, explanatory talks, round-table talks,
house-to-house visits and individual talk s .
In so doing, we should give detailed instances exposing the crimes
and brutalities committed by the US imperialists and traitorous
Syngman Rhee clique internally and externally, fanning greater
hostility and hatred for the enemy in the people’s hearts and implanting
a firm faith in victory. A resolute struggle should be waged to stamp
out the legacy of reactionary ideas spread by the enemy during his
temporary occupation, and in particular, the tendency should be
stamped out of making compromise with the enemy.
At the same time, the patriots, People’s Army men and guerrillas
who fought for the country and the people to the last drop of blood
displaying heroism and devotion in the great Fatherland Liberation
War should be explained and held up as an example to the people and
youth to rouse their patriotism.
We should also widely explain and propagate the fact that the
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peoples of the fraternal countries and the freedom-loving people
throughout the world are constantly giving us support and assistance.
We should let the people and youth know that the camp of peace and
democracy is much stronger than the imperialist camp, thus further
strengthening their confidence in our final victory in the war. All the
explanatory and information work should be conducted in an
intelligible way through a comparison of facts and concrete examples.
Seventh, the DYL should pay attention to the work of rearing
hardcore elements among the youth. In particular, it is important to
bring them up in all rural villages. The youth have been fully tried and
tested in the course of the war. Y ou should give proper education to the
activists among them to prepare five to ten hard-core elements in each
village.
To this end, the provinces should call meetings of activists attended
by the most active DYL members selected from all villages, and short
courses should be given for two or three days on the subject of the
present military and political situation and important new Party and
Government decisions, as well as on concrete methods of work with
the masses. Cadres from the centre should directly take up the
guidance of this work.
Eighth, external information work should be further intensified. We
are waging a heroic struggle and doing a great deal of work, but fail to
give due and timely publicity to it externally. The peoples and youths
of all countries who are helping us regard the Korean people’s affairs
as their own and are keen to know about our struggle and successes, yet
we fail to give other countries detailed information about them.
In the future we should publicize the heroic struggle of the Korean
people and, in particular, expose to the people of the whole world all
the brutalities committed in our country by the US imperialists. Only
then will it be possible to rouse the freedom-loving people of the whole
world and the peoples of the colonial and dependent countries fighting
for national independence and world peace and security, to a more
vigorous struggle against the imperialist war incendiaries, and inspire
them with a firmer confidence in victory. Only when we further
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strengthen internationalist friendship and solidarity with them, can we
have a more solid guarantee of victory.
We should seriously set about collecting information regarding the
heroic struggle of the people and youth who organized guerrilla
detachments and fought unyieldingly during the enemy’s temporary
occupation and investigating the war damage. Along with this, the youth
and children who have rendered distinguished service by waging a
heroic struggle against the enemy should be commended officially
either by the league or by the state, and all the youth and children should
be brought up to follow their example of heroism and patriotism.
Dear young comrades,
In conformity with the decision of the Third Plenary Meeting of our
Party Central Committee, you have summed up at today’s conference
the work conducted by the DYL in the course of the war and discussed
and decided on the immediate tasks.
Besides, the DYLs of north and south Korea which existed
separately in view of tactical and political necessity, have been merged
at this conference and become the DYL of Korea guided by one central
leading organ.
The inauguration of the DYL of Korea is not only a momentous
event in the history of the Korean youth movement but also of great
significance in achieving final victory in the great Fatherland
Liberation War. The DYL, a reliable reserve of our Party, has become
a militant organization rallying in its ra nks two million progressive,
democratic young people of north and south Korea.
I am firmly convinced that the DYL as a reliable reserve of our
Party will achieve further brilliant successes in the struggle for final
victory in the Fatherland Liberation War by carrying out its duty with
flying colours.
Let us all advance bravely, giving everything for the front,
everything for victory in the war.
224
SOME TASKS OF STABILIZING
THE PEOPLE’S LIVELIHOOD IN WARTIME
Concluding Speech at a Meeting of the Political Committee
of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea
January 21, 1951
Comrades,
It is the supreme principle of our Party’s activities to steadily
promote the people’s material and cultural well-being. Ever since its
foundation our Party has striven to stabilize and improve the people’s
livelihood. In order to rapidly increase the production of daily
necessities after liberation, we built small and medium-sized state-run
local industry factories in a big way, while reconstructing light
industries under central authority, encouraged private entrepreneurs to
business activity and widely organized producers’ cooperatives. For a
better supply of commodities for the working people we secured the
dominant position of the state sector in trade, steadily reduced prices
and raised their incomes constantly. As a result, the people’s living
conditions have changed beyond recognition in only a few years after
liberation.
When our people restored the economy ruined by the Japanese
imperialists and started to lead a happy life under the leadership of the
Party, the US imperialists and their stooges, the Syngman Rhee puppet
clique, kindled the war. The last seven months of war have brought our
people great calamities.
The savage bombing and bombardment by the US imperialist
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aggressors played havoc with factories and enterprises, and reduced
towns and villages to ashes. The people lost their homes and household
goods. In the period of temporary retreat of our People’s Army, the US
imperialist army of aggression and the Syngman Rhee puppet troops
intruded into the northern half of Korea and committed barbarities.
They not only killed innocent people at random but plundered their
property or damaged it without mercy. They ruined or burnt down
hundreds of thousands of houses and a large number of schools,
hospitals, factories and enterprises, set fire to the storehouses of
agricultural tax in kind and grain stacks, and looted large quantities of
provisions and hundreds of thousands of domestic animals. The enemy
went so far as to break bean- paste jars of the inhabitants.
The people’s life was seriously affected and many of them became
war victims owing to the bestialities of the US imperialist aggressor
troops and the Syngman Rhee puppet army.
At present, our people are short of clothes, footwear, bean paste,
soy sauce, salt and other daily essentials, and those who lost their
houses and property and the war oiphans need immediate help. To
stabilize the people’s livelihood so severely ruined by the war is a vital
problem that brooks not even a moment’s delay.
Nevertheless, there are some officials of the Party, state and
economic organs who make no effort to stabilize the shattered life of
the people saying: how can we take care of it when it is hard even to
satisfy the material needs of the front? This is a gross mistake.
Our people, together with the Party and the state, are braving the
grim trials of the war and they entrust their destiny entirely to our Party
and state. Our officials should not be indifferent to the people’s life
under the pretext of wartime conditions. Only when there are people
can we win the war and then build a rich and powerful state. Officials
should be responsible for the people’s livelihood even in the wartime
situation. Their life should thus be made stable as soon as possible, so
that they can show a lofty patriotic devotion in their struggle to
consolidate the rear and ensure wartime production.
What is most important in stabilizing their livelihood is to produce
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clothing, footwear and other daily necessities.
Of course, it is not an easy job to provide daily necessities on our
own at a time when the national economy is devastated. But we must
overcome all hardships and obstacles and make the fullest use of the
existing conditions and possibilities to produce different kinds of daily
needs. Party and state officials and economic executives should take
steps to turn them out by reconstructing the damaged centrally-run
light industries and local factories and, at the same time, build a large
number of new local factories.
In the conditions of war, the building of many local factories
producing light industry goods is more advantageous in every way
than building large ones. Now it is difficult to build big light industry
factories because it entails a long time and large state investments.
Even if we build, we will be unable to run them properly since
transport in wartime is too strained to guarantee enough raw and other
materials for them. On the contrary, if we build local factories we can
quickly increase the output of daily necessities with less state
investments. Every province should, therefore, actively tap and utilize
its own reserves to set up many local factories. We should also widely
organize and run producers’ cooperatives, and encourage private
business and sidelines at homes. Then we will be able to meet the
wartime requirements of the people for clothing, footwear and other
necessities of life.
Another important thing in stabilizing the people’s livelihood is to
solve the food problem.
To this end, we should lose no time in collecting agricultural tax in
kind. Freed from the temporary occupation of the enemy, the peasants
are now showing a patriotic zeal in making the grain deliveries to the
state with great joy and those in many localities are completing their
obligations one after another.
The peasants in South Phyongan Province have set an example to
all. In Tokchon and Nyongwon Counties they worked hard to thresh
their harvest day and night and paid one hundred per cent of
agricultural tax in kind by the end of last year. And the peasants in
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Kaechon, Maengsan and Yangdok Counties, too, are paying it off one
after another. Those in other counties of this province are striving to
put into practice their resolve to pay up fully by the end of January.
Officials of the people’s committees at all levels should undertake
proper explanation and information among the peasants so that they
may quickly deliver agricultural tax in kind. Since most of big rice
mills are damaged by enemy bombing, they should be encouraged to
meet the tax demand with rice polished as much as possible by using
water mill, beast-worked mill, stone mill and mortar.
Grain output should be increased.
Without increasing grain production we cannot meet the demands of
the front for provisions or stabilize the people’s livelihood. We must
concentrate our efforts on the countryside to boost grain output decisively.
For the present we must ensure success in this year’s spring sowing.
The rural situation at present is difficult. Draught animals and seeds
as well as adult labour are in short supply. We must ensure spring
sowing in time come what may.
For this purpose, we should arouse the peasants to this struggle
under the militant slogans: “Don’t leave even an inch of land idle!” and
“Sowing is also a battle front!”, and intensify assistance to the
countryside on the part of the whole Party, the whole state and the
whole society. The peasants should form oxen-sharing teams to make
up the shortage of draught animals and turn out large quantities of
compost to supplement fertilizer. The state should loan food and seeds
to the peasants who are in need of them. It should also give them labour
assistance by mobilizing workers, office employees, students, interior
service personnel and soldiers in the rear. The Peasant Ra nk should
advance them funds for farming.
The people’s committees at all levels should distribute the land of
absconding reactionaries and ownerless land primarily to the peasants
with little land and war victims, and give the rest, if any, to state
organs, factories, enterprises and army units to be used for their
subsidiary production.
The officials of all the people’s committees and the workers in the
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field of food administration should thoroughly investigate and find out
who are qualified for food ration and, on this basis, supply them with
food, so that irregularities can be prevented.
Improving and strengthening commodity distribution in keeping
with the wartime conditions is of great importance in stabilizing the
people’s living. The Ministry of Commerce and the people’s
committees at all levels should take measures to restore both state and
consumers’ cooperative trade networks and put them in order quickly,
thus making commodities available to the people satisfactorily. The
consumers’ cooperative shops should purchase the surplus agricultural
produce and mountain herbs from the peasants on a wide scale and
provide them for the townsfolk and workers.
Medical service for the people should be improved. They do not get
proper medical treatment because the hospitals and clinics have not yet
been completely rehabilitated or furnished. These should be restored
and run quickly, while mobile medical corps be sent to the rural ri
where there are no clinics, so that everyone can be under medical care
even in wartime conditions. Medical service establishments should
give active medical aid to the people and take thoroughgoing measures
to prevent epidemics.
As their livelihood is devastated by the war many people find it
hard to pay even light taxes. So we should exempt them from house
and land taxes and reduce other taxes for the time being. We should
also wholly or partly write off tax arrears in accordance with the
circumstances. It is advisable to exempt the peasants from some of
agricultural tax in kind and water-rates due to the state and also from
their liability to return grain loans.
As for the workers and office employees, it is good to raise their
wages, and better still, to improve the supply standards of daily
necessities. Raising only wages now is useless when these goods are in
short supply. We should, therefore, raise the norms of supply of food
and other daily essentials for the factory and office workers and provide
each of them free with summer and cotton-wadded clothes this year.
Factories and enterprises should run their subsidiary economy
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properly to produce vegetables, meat and other supplementary food for
the workers and office employees and build houses for those who have
lost them.
War victims should be given ample relief. They should be provided
with clothes and food, other relief goods, and housing materials for
construction. Free medical aid should be introduced and stale loans be
given to them. It is a good idea to organize a war victims relief
committee to take good care of them.
We should widely organize the work of giving state and public aid
to the bereaved families of patriotic martyrs, the dependents of
People’s Army servicemen and the disabled soldiers, thus relieving
them from all inconveniences.
The war has produced many orphans who have lost their homes and
parents as well as old people living singly. We cannot be indifferent
towards them. The state should set up in different places primary
schools, orphanages and asylums for war oiphans and helpless old
persons. The cadres should adopt one or two orphans in order to lessen
the burden on the state.
We should pay special attention to the upbringing of the bereaved
children of patriotic martyrs and rear them into fine workers who can
carry forward the revolution. We should build nurseries and schools in
provincial capitals and major cities to rear and educate the bereaved
children of the officers and men of the People’s Army, Party and
government officials, public figures and the patriotic people who
sacrificed themselves in the fight against the enemy.
We should step up the struggle for economization. We should
properly educate the people to oppose all sorts of useless ceremonies
and displays, and live economically. In particular, cadres should lead a
frugal life and take the lead in the struggle for economization. At the
same time, we should intensify the struggle against profiteering
harmful to the people’s living.
Last, I will touch briefly on some other questions discussed at the
meeting today.
We should further strengthen mass political and ideological education.
230
This is of great importance in hastening the ultimate victory of the
war. The outcome of a war depends on the spiritual and moral
preparedness of the army and the people who participate in it. Victory in
a war always goes to the army and the people who have a lofty political
and moral character and are firmly united politically and ideologically.
In the past seven months of the war we could achieve great
successes in the fight against the US imperialist aggressors who
boasted of being the “most powerful” in the world. This is not because
we have a large army or better weapons. The enemy’s force is larger
than ours, and their military and technical equipment is superior to
ours. The reason why we could defeat the enemy is that the politically
awakened and tempered army and people fought courageously under
the leadership of the Party. We must continue to strengthen mass
political and ideological education to rouse the people and the soldiers
so that we crush the military and technical superiority of the enemy
with our political and ideological superiority.
What, then, are the main points in mass political and ideological
education at present? They are: first, to arm all the people and soldiers
with the policy of our Party and the Government of the Republic;
second, to inspire them with confidence in victory; third, to intensify
their hatred for the enemy by exposing the brutalities of the US
imperialist aggressors and the Syngman Rhee puppet clique; fourth, to
raise them to the height of patriotism by widely propagating how
officers and men of the People’s Army, patriots and guerrillas fought,
displaying heroism and self- sacrificing spirit during the war. The
Party Central Committee, local and People’s Army Party organizations
must conduct extensive mass political and ideological education, with
the main stress on these points.
We should efficiently combat those who took part in reactionary
organizations.
At present, there are some deviations in tackling those elements
who were involved in reactionary organizations during the temporary
retreat.
First, some interior organs are passive in the struggle against those
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who committed hostilities in reactionary organizations during the
retreat and are now hiding themselves, only waiting for them to
surrender themselves to justice. Of course, it is necessary to conduct a
campaign for voluntary confession and disintegrate the enemy from
within and reeducate even one more of those who participated in
reactionary organizations.
But, it is quite wrong to expect the peipetrators of hostile acts to
give themselves up, instead of taking the offensive against them. This
is, in the long run, tantamount to affording them ample time to hide
deeper and move more stealthily. Only when the interior organs
strengthen the struggle to detect those who have hidden themselves
after committing hostilities, will they come out to confess.
Second, they are not vigilant enough against those who have
confessed. Most of them sincerely repent for their crimes and want to
follow our Party and people. Some of them, however, made a false
confession to continue their reactionary acts. The interior organs ought
to have heightened vigilance and taken legal sanctions against these
fellows, but they leave them alone.
If we do not correct these shortcomings, it will hinder the task of
strengthening our revolutionary ra nks and ensuring their purity.
As we said already, in this struggle we should give priority to the
detection of those who have deliberately committed hostile acts and
gone into hiding, and step up the confession campaign.
In some localities there are still in hiding quite a few people who
participated in reactionary organizations and committed hostilities in
the period of temporary retreat. The interior organs should mobilize the
masses to search thoroughly for those who are hiding without
surrendering themselves to justice.
You should not deal with them haphazardly, without going through
legal formalities even if they did vicious outrages as members of a
reactionary organization. Whoever they may be, all reactionaries must
undergo due processes of law.
Those who have confessed should be dealt with according to how
honest they prove themselves to be. If they truly repent and honestly
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confess to their crimes against our Party and people, they should be
forgiven. But if they make a false confession and conceal their crimes,
they should be sent to mass trial or justice according to the graveness
of their crimes. If you hear the masses you can find out whether a
confession is true or false. The Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of
the Interior should work out regulations for the treatment of those who
confessed and, on this basis, deal with them.
A joint meeting of heads of interior stations, prosecutor’s offices and
courts should be held in provinces, cities and counties under the guidance
of the Party organizations to criticize severely the shortcomings in the
struggle against those who joined reactionary organizations and discuss
measures to carry out the decision of this meeting.
According to a decision of the Military Commission, we should
dissolve the regional military commission for provincial defence and
organize the regional self-defence commission in each province.
The formation of regional self-defence commission is aimed at
consolidating the home front and ensuring its security.
The main tasks of this commission are, first, to organize the
struggle against the hiding reactionaries and remnants of defeated
troops who engage in insidious manoeuvrings in the area under its
jurisdiction; second, to organize the fight against the airborne and
seaborne invaders; and third, to organize and guide the defence of
railways, bridges, factories, enteiprises, power stations,
communications establishments, airfields and state institutions. The
commission should organize self-defence coips with the select people
throughout the cities and counties and carry out its duties through these
corps and the provincial security forces. It should conduct all its work
and activities in close cooperation with the People’s Army units
stationed in its province.
The regional self-defence commission of the province comes
directly under the Military Commission of the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea and the provincial Party committee chairman
concurrently holds the chairmanship of the commission.
233
ON MAPPING OUT THE MASTER
PLAN FOR THE POSTWAR
RECONSTRUCTION OF PYONGYANG
Talk with City Planners
January 21, 1951
Today I am going to discuss with you how to prepare for the
reconstruction of our ravaged cities after the war.
The situation at the front is now turning favourable for us. Our
heroic People’s Army soldiers are destroying the US imperialist
invaders and their stooges everywhere. Grasping the upper hand of the
war, they are launching a powerful counteroffensive on all fronts,
dealing a heavy blow to the enemy. The US imperialists and their
lackeys will be brought to their knees before us in the near future, and
the war will end in victory for our people.
You say you want to fight at the front. It is a matter of course for the
Korean youth to do so. I can understand your desire to fight at the front.
But, if everyone goes to the front, who will defend the home front and
prepare for postwar reconstruction? These home-front activities are no
less important than fighting on the battlefield.
If we prepare ourselves well from now, we shall be able to set about
the work of reconstruction as soon as the war is over. If we plan
postwar reconstruction when the war is raging, it will further
encourage our people and the soldiers of the People’s Army and boost
their confidence in victory while striking the enemy with horror and
blasting them like a terrible bomb. So those engaging the enemy at the
234
front must fight them and those arranging postwar reconstruction on
the home front must do it. You should make good preparations for
postwar reconstruction without worrying about the front.
As you know, the American imperialist aggressors have not only
massacred our people but reduced our towns and villages to ashes in
the most brutal way the like of which has never been employed against
this land in history. In a little more than six months since the outbreak
of the Fatherland Liberation War, our towns and villages have been
devastated and our factories and enterprises severely destroyed.
In spite of his brutalities, the enemy has not been able to conquer
our people. If the US imperialist aggressors destroy one thing, we must
build ten, a hundred or a thousand, and rebuild the ravaged towns and
villages, factories and other enterprises more beautifully, more
magnificently and in the latest styles. We should thus display the
stamina of the Korean people in postwar reconstruction, too.
What is important in reconstructing the cities which have been
brutally bombed down by the American imperialist aggressors is to
rebuild them in such a way as to provide the working people with
conveniences and modem amenities to suit Korean tastes.
If these requirements are to be met, we must not blindly copy the
methods of town building in other countries.
Customs and tastes of our people are different from those of the
foreigners and there are a number of characteristics in our geographical
and other natural conditions. So we must never imitate foreign styles in
building our towns.
True, we should adopt the fine foreign experience in construction.
But in that case, too, we must be critical from the viewpoint of our
specific conditions.
We must build our towns keeping in view our realities and national
character in all cases. In building cities, we must develop the unique
national forms of Korea, while at the same time our buildings must
conform with the spiritual and moral aspects and tastes of our people
and be serviceable, beautiful and durable.
One of the fundamentals of urban construction is that cities should
235
be built in such a way as to offer the greatest convenience to the
people, and protect and promote their health.
In the past, towns in our country were built not in a cultured way but
in the interests of the small privileged class, following the colonial
policy of the Japanese imperialists. In our urban rehabilitation and
construction we must eradicate the degenerate and outdated way of
building towns applied by Japanese imperialists.
Urban dwelling houses, service establishments, cultural facilities,
public buildings and roads should be well laid out for the convenience
of the people, and many green belts formed around them. In particular,
every building where the working people are to live or work should
admit sufficient light and have adequate ventilation and heating.
Facilities harmful to the health of the people should be avoided as
far as possible in laying out a city, and, if unavoidable, adequate
measures should be taken to protect the citizen’s health.
In urban reconstruction we should pay close attention to the
problem of building more, better and faster with less outlay of funds. In
working out a master plan for urban construction, therefore, you must
draw even a line and a dot, calculating first how to build more and
better with less expenditure of funds, materials and labour.
The reconstruction of towns also needs a detailed estimate of all
other conditions-the freezing depth of the building ground, possible
damages from flood, typhoon, earthquake, war and the like. This will
firmly ensure safety against all contingencies.
With these problems in mind, you should work out the master plan
for the reconstruction of Pyongyang.
After the war we should reconstruct Pyongyang first. Pyongyang is
the democratic capital-the political, economic and cultural centre of
our country. In Pyongyang are the Central Committee of the Party and
the Government of our Republic, and it is here that all policies and
lines for building a prosperous, independent and sovereign state are
worked out and our people’s struggle for nation-building is organized
and led. Pyongyang is a city with a time-honoured history, a brilliant
culture and very beautiful scenery.
236
We should rebuild Pyongyang, the democratic capital, into a more
splendid, beautiful, magnificent and modem city than it was before the
war. Under Japanese rule Pyongyang had many shortcomings because
it was built in an uncultured and unshapely way. It had few cultural
facilities or parks and plazas worth mentioning. Shops and other
service establishments were concentrated in some parts of the city and
this caused great inconvenience to the people.
We should not just restore Pyongyang to its original state but
rebuild it into a modem city by eliminating its underdevelopment and
shapelessness, the consequence of the colonial rule of Japanese
imperialism, and by providing it fully with cultural and service
establishments for the broad strata of working people.
In order to rebuild Pyongyang into a magnificent and modem city,
its central part should be laid out properly.
Proper location of the heart of the city will afford full convenience
to the people and ensure the balanced layout of the city as a whole and
its development on a long-term basis. In my opinion, it will be proper
to fix the central part at front of the Pyongyang City People’s
Committee or at the eastern foot of Nam Hill. This will be an ideal
location both for providing conveniences of life to the working people
and for the maintenance of the town’s balance in general.
A good layout of a road network is very important in city
construction. We can say that a road is an index of the civilization of a
country. A town with well laid-out roads looks bright, clean and tidy.
The existing Stalin Street is so narrow that it looks oppressive and is
inconvenient to pedestrian and vehicular traffic. But this street need
not be widened. Leave the street as it is and plan a new broad
thoroughfare starting from Moran Hill and running parallel with the
Taedong River. And it would be a good idea to have the central square
in front of the Pyongyang City People’s Committee. A modem street
should be planned at the site of the airport now in East Pyongyang.
This airport should be removed elsewhere outside the town at some
time in the future. A few new bridges should be built across the
Taedong River.
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Residential houses should be built in great numbers. They should
be modem, high-rise buildings laid out along main streets and on the
Taedong River and the Pothong River. In this way fine modem houses
and a happy life will be provided for the working people who under the
colonial rule of Japanese imperialism wandered about without even a
thatched hut and had to settle down on the earthen embankment in the
Pothong Plain.
Many cultural and service establishments should be built to meet
the material and cultural requirements of the people. They should not
be concentrated in one place but evenly distributed in all residential
quarters for the convenience of the working people.
Factories and enterprises should also be located properly, avoiding
residential areas as far as possible. Otherwise the air pollution caused
by these factories will harm the health of the working people. They
should be located on the lower reaches of the Taedong and Pothong
Rivers.
It would also be a good idea to move the railway between
Pyongyang Station and West Pyongyang Station to another place at
some later date.
Pleasure grounds and parks should be laid out in a planned way.
Although our working people have no time to rest now because
they are fighting the American imperialist aggressors, they will need
some place where they can take a walk and relax when the war is over.
So pleasure grounds and parks should be well laid out to enable the
working people to have such recreations.
Pyongyang has many beautiful places suitable for this purpose.
The Taedong River winds southward, unfolding an exquisite
scenery, its crystal waters washing the foot of the hills-high and
low-Juam Hill, Moran Hill, Mansu Hill, Nam Hill and Mangyong Hill.
Of course, the riversides are not quite wholesome at present because
they are being used as wharves. But if they are arranged well, they will
serve the working people as fine recreation grounds. Promenades and
green belts should be laid out and various kinds of trees planted on
both sides of the river.
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The areas around the Pothong River should also be put in order. The
earthen embankment in the Pothong Plain should be cleaned so as to
build recreation parks thereabouts. Boating areas should be arranged
on this river and its ha nks covered with green foliage. Then, the squalid
earthen embankment in the Pothong Plain will be an ideal place for
recreation.
Parks should be built. If they are laid out on the Taedong and
Pothong Rivers alone, they will be insufficient to provide the working
people with satisfactory cultural recreation. So parks should be
planned in the beautiful mountains and hills like Mt. Taesong, Moran
Hill, Mansu Hill, Nam Hill, Haebang Hill and Changgwang Hill. Many
small parks, too, should be built in the residential quarters and other
parts of the city. We should thus see to it that pleasure grounds and
parks can be found in all parts of Pyongyang.
While preparing for the reconstruction of Pyongyang, we should
also make arrangements for the rehabilitation and construction of
provincial capitals and other towns throughout the country.
I hope you will map out a splendid master plan for the
reconstruction of Pyongyang with joint efforts and talents.
239
ON THE POLICY OF THE WORKERS’ PARTY
OF KOREA FOR ITS FUTURE ACTIVITIES
Speech Delivered at a Joint Meeting of the Commanders
and Political Workers of the Combined Units
of the Korean People’s Army and the Units
of the Chinese People’s Volunteers
January 28, 1951
Comrades,
The present political and military situation is in our favour. The
Korean People’s Army and Chinese People’s Volunteers units already
scored substantial results between the first and third operation in the
third stage of the Fatherland Liberation War, and created essential
conditions for the Korean people to win a definite victory in the war.
We have now driven the enemy to the south of Suwon and Wonju,
liberated vast areas and more than half the population.
In three successive operations we wiped out over 100,000 men of
the US imperialist army and Syngman Rhee puppet army.
Contradictions and discord have arisen within the enemy forces; they
are at loggerheads with one another and their morale is falling. On the
contrary, our army has been united ever more firmly, and is
overcoming difficulties in an indomitable fighting spirit.
The more barbarities the enemy commits, the more hatred our
people feel for him. All the Korean people are now gnashing their teeth
and are afire with the revengeful thought to wipe out the US imperialist
bandits at all costs. Our soldiers’ morale is now very high, and
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international aid to our people is ever increasing.
Under these circumstances, our Party’s immediate task, in short, is
to consolidate the present victory and create all conditions for final
victory in the war. This, precisely, is the central task facing our Party.
What has to be done to fulfil this central task?
First, the Workers’ Party organizations should be strengthened and
the demolished Party organizations be restored promptly in the liberated
areas. The Party ra nk s should be extended through the enrolment of fine
and staunch patriots who have been tested in the Fatherland Liberation
War. Flard cores of the Party cells should be reared continuously to
extend Party political work and work with the masses. Our Party
members should be sent among the masses, so that they blend with the
masses and strike still deeper roots in them. Through a stubborn struggle
against the bureaucratic style of work, ties between the Party and the
masses should be strengthened and the Workers’ Party of Korea
developed into a powerful party. The Party’s prestige should thus be
further enhanced in the eyes of the masses, and the masses should be
correctly guided to win an ever greater victory in the struggle against the
US imperialists and the traitorous Syngman Rhee clique.
Mass organizations-the General Federation of Trade Unions, the
Peasants’ Union, Women’s Union, Democratic Youth League-should
be promptly rehabilitated and re-structured, their functions and role
raised, and the Party’s guidance of these organizations consolidated.
Through mass organizations the Party organizations should conduct an
extensive information and education work among the people from all
walks of life so that they have firm confidence in victory and a high
degree of national pride as well as burning hatred for the enemy. Then
they will devote all their energies to smashing the enemy and fight out
to the end to defend their country.
The Party should train more hard cores of the mass organizations. It
should train those who are proficient in mass work, in other words,
those who know how to rally the masses, how to educate them,
mobilize them and organize them.
Second, people’s government organs should be restored and
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consolidated quickly in the liberated areas. In the areas temporarily
occupied by the enemy, most of the people’s government organs were
demolished, and numerous cadres were killed or enlisted in the army or
guerrilla units. Therefore, we should boldly appoint young cadres and
women to the leading posts in restoring government organs. Until the
war ends the cadres of government organs and people’s committee
members will be appointed temporarily according to the principle of
appointment and commission. However, it will be advisable to elect
the ri people’s committees.
In order to acquaint the newly elected or newly appointed cadres
with their work, they should be given short courses everywhere and
helped in their day-to-day work.
The style of work of government officials should be improved. An
end should be put to the practice of dictating and coercing the masses
reminiscent of the bureaucratic style prevalent in the Japanese
imperialist days. State laws and government decisions should be
explained to the masses so that they understand government policies
clearly and rally around the Party and the Government.
The broad masses should be actively mobilized to restore roads and
railways, to ensure the transport of munitions for the advancing units,
supply provisions to the People’s Army and Volunteers units and give
aid to the front. The masses should be convinced that military victory
now is the only way to liberate the people.
Third, Party and government bodies should make every effort to
stabilize the people’s life.
Whether in enemy-held areas or not, large numbers of people had
their homes and property burnt down or damaged by the enemy. They
have no clothes and provisions now. The Party and the Government
should mobilize the Party, public organizations and government
organs to carry out extensive relief work.
The Government should allocate large sums of money to supply
war victims with building materials, clothes and provisions. These
victims should also be helped socially, by mutual cooperation and
mutual aid.
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Party and government organs should launch an all-state, all-people
movement to nurse and educate the bereaved children of Workers’
Party members, Party and government officials, public figures, officers
and men of the People’s Army and guerrillas who were killed in the
war. Nurseries and primary schools for the bereaved children should be
set up in every provincial centre and other big cities to bring them
together, give them an education and provide a secure life for them.
Stabilization of the people’s life is the most important job for the
entire state and the whole Party.
However madly the US imperialists may devastate our country,
reducing it to ashes, we will be able to rebuild it into a new powerful
country after the war if only we have people. The care and relief of
people is our primary task.
Fourth, the peasants’ spring sowing should be guaranteed.
We should mobilize all forces for success in this work. If we fail in
the spring sowing we will be unable to solve the food problem.
In all local areas correct statistics should be compiled of the rural
manpower and draught animals, and soldiers, workers, government
officials and students in areas short of manpower should be mobilized
to help the peasants. “Don’t leave even an inch of land idle!” is our
major slogan.
The war-victimized peasants should be exempted from taxes in
kind, irrigation fees and part of certain other taxes; and seed grain and
funds should be loaned to those peasants who have no seed grain for
their spring sowing,
Land survey should be carried out in the countryside. If peasants
who have no work force return their lands to the government organs
voluntarily, the factories, enterprises, institutions, or workers and
soldiers in the given localities should till them.
After the People’s Army retreated from areas in the southern half
where the agrarian reform had been carried out, the landlords again
robbed the peasants of their lands. How should we deal with the land
problem in such areas which have been liberated once again? We
should approve of the former agrarian reform and allow the peasants to
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take back the lands they lost. The government organs should register
the lands shared out to the peasants as their property.
Fifth, the work of the united front should be strengthened.
Some comrades think it unnecessary to cement our united front
with friendly parties because some members of the Democratic Party
and the Chongu Party in the Democratic Front for the Reunification
of Korea joined reactionary organizations and committed barbarities
against the country and the people in the course of the Fatherland
Liberation War. They are mistaken. This is a tendency inimical to the
conduct of the Fatherland Liberation War. These comrades are
unaware that we are now carrying out a nationwide struggle against
the US imperialist aggressors for the country’s reunification, freedom
and honour.
We should strengthen the united front more than ever before. There
must be a principle to observe in consolidating the united front. We can
form a united front with people who oppose the US imperialists and
traitorous Syngman Rhee clique and call for national reunification and
independence. Irrespective of their political views, religious beliefs,
property status, social standing and party affiliation, those who are
opposed to the US imperialists and traitorous Syngman Rheeites
should all be brought over to join the united front to wage a joint
struggle for democracy and independence.
The point is, our Party plays the leading role in the united front. Our
Party has played and will play the leading role.
The Democratic Front for the Reunification of Korea should not be
weakened because of the actions of certain reactionaries lurking in the
friendly parties. Maintaining close relations with progressive members
of the friendly parties, we should draw them over to the side of the
country and the people and increase our Party’s influence on them so
that they rely on and follow our Party; and through them, we should
expose and isolate the reactionary elements in these parties.
The US imperialist armed invaders and Syngman Rhee traitors,
their lackeys, want our united front to be weakened, and are hell-bent
on undermining it. Therefore, the tendency to underestimate the role of
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the united front and weaken it benefits the enemy. The Party should
launch a stubborn struggle against this tendency.
Sixth, the struggle against the participants in the reactionary
organizations should be conducted on correct lines.
The enemy formed reactionary organizations in collusion with the
landlords, pro-Japanese elements, traitors to the nation and profiteers
in the temporarily occupied areas. Threatened, blackmailed and tricked
by the enemy, some waverers, cowards and backward people joined
the reactionary organizations.
These reactionary organizations, manipulated by the US imperialist
armed invaders and traitorous Syngman Rhee clique, committed
atrocities in the enemy-held areas. The majority of the people in the
areas freed from enemy occupation demand that those who joined the
reactionary organizations and committed atrocities be tried in revenge
and punished. Theirs is a just demand.
In handling these people, however, we must distinguish between
the deceived and the malignant elements, the passive elements and the
active ones; we must refrain from acting arbitrarily but liquidate the
reactionaries through discreet legal procedures and trials.
The out-and-out reactionaries who betrayed the country and the
people and committed heinous atrocities should be duly punished,
whereas the deceived waverers who, repenting their faults, now want
to start afresh with a clean slate should be generously forgiven and won
over.
Some time ago the Political Committee of the Party Central
Committee and the Government of the Republic adopted a decision
concerning the liquidation of the reactionaries and the disposal of their
property. On the basis of this decision, all Party organizations,
government bodies and interior service and judicial organs must cope
judiciously with the problem of the participants in reactionary
organizations.
Seventh, the work of disintegrating the enemy forces should be
carried on with daring and on a wide scale.
Every way and means should be employed to propagate to the
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enemy soldiers our lenient policy for prisoners of war. Prisoners of war
should be released there and then on the spot so that upon returning to
their units they propagate our generous POW policy.
We should call on enemy soldiers who are nation-conscious and
patriotic not to kill their fellow countrymen on behalf of the enemies of
the nation but to train their guns on the enemies and rescue their own
people and country. We should thus induce all conscientious enemy
soldiers to respond to this appeal and come over to our side.
The Party should step up the activities of the underground
organizations in enemy-occupied zones. The underground
organizations should be encouraged to conduct information activities
on a large scale behind enemy lines, so that the broad masses of the
people are rallied around the Party and rise up in harmony with the
offensive of our army. When our army advances, the guerrillas should
also act in cooperation with it.
Eighth, education in internationalism should be carried on
extensively among Party members and the masses of the people.
Only when the Korean people and the peoples of the Soviet Union
and the People’s Democracies achieve fraternal unity can our nation’s
complete independence and liberation, as well as world peace, be
guaranteed. The Korean and the Chinese people have traditional
friendship and solidarity forged already in their long-drawn-out
revolutionary struggle. This is a revolutionary solidarity, a solidarity
based on the interests and demands of all the people. Now the people
and Communist Party of China have sent Volunteers to help the
Korean people. This great internationalist aid further strengthens the
internationalist solidarity of the Korean and Chinese peoples. The
Soviet people helped the Korean people in their anti-Japanese
liberation war, and the Chinese people are giving aid with blood to the
Korean people’s struggle against the US imperialists. Even after
defeating US imperialism we should continue to preserve unity with
the Chinese people for peace in Asia. These two peoples are our eternal
friends. We should promote friendship among the peoples and
concerted actions between the armies, thus further strengthening our
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unbreakable internationalist solidarity.
Ninth, I will remark on military tasks.
We should make ample preparations for the final victory. Army
units should be reinforced and marshalled and provided with weapons,
ammunition, provisions and clothes. All should work actively to carry
out this task, and complete it while the main units are being prepared.
Recruits should be educated and trained in such a way that they can
fight as well as veteran soldiers. The commands at all echelons of the
People’s Army should enhance their ability to command; the
artillerymen, engineers and signalmen should become versed in their
own specialities.
Further, all units should intensify training for night and mountain
warfare. In this warfare coordinated action with the technical service
should be well organized and reconnoitring and scouting should be
improved.
The main units should send storming parties into the enemy rear to
raid his command posts, headquarters, airfields and depots, and
prevent him from undertaking well-conducted defence operations.
Military discipline and order should be strengthened in the People’s
Army.
Guerrillas behind enemy lines should intensify their activities while
the main units are being prepared so that the enemy feels uneasy, and
should hinder him from concentrating his forces and surrounding the
guerrilla units.
We have many other tasks. But if we fulfil mainly the tasks I have
mentioned, we are sure to win.
We still have great difficulties and hard battles before us. I am
convinced, however, that our heroic People’s Army and Chinese
People’s Volunteers units will cope well with these ordeals.
The basis for victory has already been laid. We will soon annihilate
the US imperialists and the traitorous Syngman Rheeites and win the
war without fail.
Comrades,
Let us march forward towards victory!
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Long live everlasting friendship and solidarity between the Korean
people and the Soviet and Chinese peoples!
Glory to the heroic Korean People’s Army and Chinese People’s
Volunteers units and to the men and women guerrillas!
Let us destroy the US imperialists, the new warmonger, the robber
of the Asian nations and the common enemy of the Korean and
Chinese peoples!
Final victory is ours!
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FIGHT MORE BRAVELY FOR FINAL
VICTORY IN THE FATHERLAND
LIBERATION WAR
Order No. 0097 of the Supreme Commander
of the Korean People’s Army
February 8, 1951
Our valiant men and noncommissioned officers of the three
services,
Commanders and political workers,
Dear men and women guerrillas,
Today we celebrate the third anniversary of the founding of the
heroic Korean People’s Army, under solemn circumstances where the
Fatherland Liberation War for the reunification and independence of
the country and the freedom of the people has entered a decisive stage.
The heroic Korean People’s Army, in close cooperation with the
fraternal Chinese People’s Volunteers, has liberated the whole area of
the northern half including Pyongyang, a time-honoured, ancient city
of our country and the democratic capital of the Republic, which was
temporarily occupied by the enemy, by totally expelling them to south
of the 38th Parallel.
The units of the People’s Army and the Chinese People’s
Volunteers, encircling and annihilating the fleeing enemy, have
already liberated Seoul, Inchon, Suwon, Wonju, Hoengsong and many
other towns and villages of the southern half by advancing with an
accelerated speed. They are now continuing fierce battles with the
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enemy while furthering their achievements in the war.
The combined units of our courageous guerrillas active deep behind
enemy lines are fighting more fiercely. They are surprising enemy
headquarters, blowing up their transport routes and communications
organs, raiding their depots, and thus throwing the retreating enemy
into greater confusion.
We have won tremendous successes during the seven months of the
Fatherland Liberation War. These successes constitute a solid basis for
liberating the whole of Korea in the future. They have fully exposed
the weakness of the US imperialists, have struck a fatal blow to their
plan of aggression in Asia and created greater confusion and division
among the aggressor forces of US-led imperialism. Our successes have
also powerfully inspired the peoples of many Asian countries in their
anti-imperialist, national-liberation struggles.
In the just Fatherland Liberation War for defending the country and
the people from the US imperialist aggression, our young People’s
Army has displayed to the full its gallantry, boldness and patriotic
devotion, and demonstrated its might to the whole world.
Our soldiers and noncommissioned officers are conscious of the
sacred and weighty mission which the country and the people have
given them. They have displayed their combat capabilities and
knowledge of advanced military techniques and shown a high sense of
discipline and organization in the fierce battles. The officers have
encouraged their men by setting examples in person.
In the fierce battles fought to expel and annihilate the US
imperialist aggressors, large numbers of heroes and model combatants
have emerged from among the officers and men of the People’s Amy.
For their distinguished services to the country and the people, so many
have been awarded the title of Hero of the Republic and decorated with
orders and medals.
Our People’s Amy, having gone through the hard days of retreat,
has grown in skill as well as in numerical strength and become a
powerful amed force with high revolutionary consciousness.
The participation of the fraternal Chinese People’s Volunteers in
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the Fatherland Liberation War has turned the war more in our favour.
The three joint operations of the Korean People’s Army and the
Chinese People’s Volunteers have annihilated over 100,000 enemy
troops and dealt them a severe blow.
The US imperialist aggressors, who refuse to withdraw from Korea,
are fated to be exterminated to the last man on our soil.
The fiendish US imperialist marauders have perpetrated brutalities
everywhere in the areas of the northern half, which were temporarily
occupied by them. They butchered, raped and tortured our beloved
parents, brothers and sisters. Their hands are stained with the blood of
the Korean people. We cannot forget the resentment of the people who
were massacred by the US imperialist gangsters; we will be revenged
upon the enemy by a hundred fold of what our people have suffered.
All conditions favour us for victory in war.
The People’s Army enjoys the deep love and support of the people,
and its ties of kinship with them are becoming ever stronger. Out of their
desire for our early victory, all the people are out as one in giving
assistance to ensure the triumphant advance of the People’s Army.
The mental and moral condition of the People’s Army is
incomparably superior to that of the enemy. Our officers and men are
confident of the lofty aim of the war and the justness of their cause. In
contrast, the US imperialist aggression troops are extremely corrupt
and demoralized because they are engaged in an unjust war to invade
another nation and because they are aware of the crimes they have
committed in Korea. They are trembling with the fear of impending
revenge. They have suffered not only military defeats but also political
and moral setbacks in the Korean war.
The noble political and moral traits of our People’s Army have
developed to a higher level in the process of fighting and defeating the
enemy.
We are not alone in our just struggle. The peoples of the Soviet
Union, China and other People’s Democracies are giving us active
support and assistance, and the progressive people of the whole world
sympathize with our struggle.
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All this constitutes a guarantee for our final victory.
Men and noncommissioned officers of the People’s Army,
Commanders and political workers,
Men and women guerrillas,
The day is drawing near when we shall completely crush and drive
out the enemy and achieve victory in the great Fatherland Liberation
War. But victory does not come of its own accord, and it cannot be
achieved without arduous struggle. Confronted with ultimate defeat,
the enemy forces are all the more desperate to avoid our people’s stem
revenge. They will frantically resist, by resorting to all kinds of sly and
underhand methods.
We should not rest content with our victory. We must sharpen our
revolutionary vigilance further and strike and wipe out the US
imperialist invaders even more mercilessly and resolutely.
On the occasion of the third anniversary of the founding of the
heroic Korean People’s Army, I warmly congratulate you, and order
the following, so that you will achieve ultimate victory in the great
Fatherland Liberation War:
First, all men and noncommissioned officers of the People’s Army
should master their weapons, steadily improve their knowledge of
military techniques, accurately carry out what is required by military
regulations and manuals, execute the orders of their superiors promptly
and exactly, voluntarily observe military discipline and order, further
enhance their sense of organization and display a noble fighting
morality.
Second, commanders and political workers at all levels must
constantly improve their military leadership, properly organize
coordination among different units, develop reconnaissance which is
the eyes and ears of the army, in every way. They must elevate the
function of the staff to a higher level, make extensive use of the
experience of the leading Guards units and further raise the
revolutionary spirit of the units.
Third, all the People’s Army units should more closely cooperate
with the fraternal Chinese People’s Volunteers units. They must
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exchange information with each other and display still greater valour
and stubbornness in battles.
Fourth, supply service workers must provide the front with all kinds
of weapons, ammunition and other war equipment in time. They
should adequately protect war materials from the raids of enemy
planes, properly sort out and use trophies, and promptly repair
damaged military equipment for the front.
Fifth, men and women guerrillas must successfully assist the
People’s Army and Chinese People’s Volunteers units in their
advance. They should raid enemy headquarters, demolish traffic routes
and means of communications of the enemy and further harass them
from the rear.
Sixth, in celebration of the great victory achieved by our heroic
People’s Army, a 20 gun-salute shall be salvoed respectively by 120
guns in Seoul and Pyongyang at 20:00, on this eighth day of February,
the third anniversary of the founding of the Korean People’s Army.
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ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS RAISED
BY THE ACTING HEAD OF THE CHINESE
XINHUA NEWS AGENCY BRANCH IN KOREA
February 11, 1951
Question: On the occasion of the third anniversary of the founding of the
heroic Korean People’s Army, would you Comrade Premier, the organizer
and leader of the People’s Army, mind telling me about the major success and
experience gained during the seven months of the great Fatherland Liberation
War?
Answer: Three years have already elapsed since the founding of
the Korean People’s Army. Though this is a short period, our People’s
Army has grown into a powerful armed force and gained great
successes in defending its country and people.
Today our People’s Army is heroically wiping out the aggressive
forces of US imperialism and the mercenary troops of its
satellites-Britain, Turkey, Canada, Australia and so on-that are several
times superior to it in number and technique.
In the course of the harsh and arduous Fatherland Liberation War
our People’s Army has been seasoned further.
In the hard-fought battles our officers and men have been tempered
and have become seasoned soldiers who are skilled not only in the
offensive of breaking through the enemy’s fortified positions and
attacking them but also in stubborn defence against the enemy’s offensive
and in making an organized retreat slipping through the enemy’s
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encirclement when the situation is unfavourable; skilled in detouring,
encircling and destroying the enemy equipped with superior weapons and
technique and in penetrating into the enemy’s rear and conducting
guerrilla warfare, cutting off the route of their retreat and assaulting their
headquarters and transport. Our People’s Army has gained rich
experience in battles and its fighting capacity has increased greatly.
The commanders of the People’s Army are now able to control,
unite and educate their units under any complicated situation. The men
are now excellent fighters who observe military discipline, take good
care of their weapons and display unbounded loyalty and stubbornness
in discharging their combat mission.
The People’s Army has grown greatly not only in quality but also in
quantity.
In this way, during the seven months of the Fatherland Liberation
War the People’s Amy has been steeled and has accumulated rich
experience in the course of actual battles and has made much progress
qualitatively and numerically. All these successes are attributable to
the fact that the People’s Amy enjoys unanimous support of the entire
nation because it was fomed with the fine sons and daughters of the
Korean people and because the war it carries on is a righteous war of
liberation to defend the interests of the country and the people.
Question: What do you think is the military, political and international
significance of the great victory won in the New Year offensive taken by the
People’s Army in cooperation with the Chinese People’s Volunteers?
Answer: The great victory scored in the third stage of the war-from
the 1st to the 3rd operation-by the People’s Amy fighting shoulder to
shoulder with the Chinese People’s Volunteers is of great military and
political significance.
The enemy who invaded the area north of the Chongchon River
attempted to drive our People’s Amy to the Amnok River at one stroke.
The most arrogant butcher MacArthur prattled that he would occupy the
whole of Korea before “Christmas” and get his men back home.
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Extolling Mac Arthur’s wild plan, the US imperialists and their
satellite states jumped at our country licking their lips to have a share
in the division of Korean territory. However, the aggressor army of
the US imperialists and its mercenary troops lost as many as over
100,000 men in the counterattack by our courageous People’s Army
and Chinese People’s Volunteers and fled in panic to the south of the
Han River.
As a result of our victories the morale of the enemy has declined and
their internal contradictions further deepened. They are at odds with
each other, shifting the blame to one another, and they are splitting. On
the contrary, our army’s morale is higher, the unity of democratic camp
solider, the international support to the Korean people stronger, and our
people’s faith in victory greater than ever. Hatred for the enemy is
stronger among our people who witnessed with their own eyes the
brutalities of the enemy during the temporary retreat.
So, all conditions are now fully ripe that we can win victory in the
great Fatherland Liberation War without fail.
Question: How is reconstmction work carried on in the areas liberated from
the temporaiy occupation by the enemy? And, how are the people mobilized for
the victorious end of the Fatherland Liberation War?
Answer: In many liberated areas the organs of people’s
government, political parties and social organizations destroyed by the
enemy’s atrocities have been almost all restored and the people are out
as one in their effort to rebuild the destroyed railways and roads and
provide provisions so as to ensure wartime transport and supply of
more food to the People’s Army. At the same time, they are working
energetically to increase the production of war supplies and vigorously
making the preparations for spring sowing, with a resolve to ensure
grain production at the prewar level.
Upholding the policy of the Government of the Republic on
stabilizing the people’s life, all the people are taking an active part in
rehabilitating and rearranging the destroyed houses, factories, and
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cultural institutions and relieving refugees and looking after orphans.
In a word, all the Korean people are all out to completely liberate
the whole of Korea and achieve final victory in the war.
Question: How are the activities of the people’s guerrillas carried on in
the areas under enemy control at present?
Answer: In the areas which are not yet liberated from enemy
occupation, the people’s guerrilla actions are widespread. In the course
of battles every guerrilla group has grown into a large unit.
The guerrillas operating in North and South Kyongsang Provinces
have grown from a force of a few hundred troops into a large unit with
several thousand and are now active around Taegu; those in North and
South Jolla Provinces centring on Mt. Jiri have become a large
combined unit. In North and South Chungchong Provinces guerrilla
units are fighting fiercely around Taejon.
Though the enemy is making an attempt to “mop up” guerrillas by
mobilizing several divisions, they will never be able to check their
vigorous activities.
At present guerrillas are widening the area of their activities daily
under the active support and assistance from the people in these areas,
and in some districts they have established liberated areas covering
several sub-counties or several counties.
Question: What do you think of the movement to resist US aggression
and aid Korea, protect our homes and defend our motherland now widespread
in China?
Answer: This movement waged by the Chinese people on a
nationwide scale is further inspiring the Korean people with
confidence in victory. As long as nearly 500 million fraternal Chinese
people support the Korean people, we have no doubt that we will drive
out any force of aggression.
The Chinese people’s movement to resist US aggression and aid
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Korea, protect their homes and defend their motherland is of great
significance not only in the liberation struggle of the Korean people but
also in winning peace in Asia and the rest of the world.
That is why the Korean people are greatly encouraged by this
movement. They are convinced that if they fight in firm unity with the
fraternal peoples of the Soviet Union and China and the peace-loving
people the world over they will attain the freedom and independence of
the country and defend world peace.
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LET US PRODUCE MORE WEAPONS
FOR THE FRONT
Talk with the Workers of Factory No. 65
February 17, 1951
The workers of Factory No. 65 have done a great deal of work.
They not only preserved their machines, equipment and skilled
workers well even during the difficult period of retreat, but have
rehabilitated and reorganized most of the factory during the short
period following their return from the retreat. Now they are
manufacturing arms and ammunition. When 1 see you, the workers of
this factory, striving to send more arms and ammunition to the front, I
am more convinced than ever of the victory of our cause.
I am greatly satisfied with the fact that all workers, technicians and
office employees of this factory are carrying on with their task
successfully with boundless loyalty to the Party, the country and the
people.
The situation at the front is turning in our favour now. Officers and
men of our heroic People’s Army have driven away the enemy to the
south of the 38th Parallel from the northern half of Korea which they
had invaded. They are now following up this success brilliantly.
Our people, however, must prepare for a prolonged and arduous
war, if they are to win ultimately by wiping out the US imperialists and
their henchmen.
In an attempt to recover from their defeat and attain their aim of
aggression at any cost, the US imperialists and their lackeys are
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sending large reinforcements to the front to escalate the war. So our
Party has called on all its members and the working people to be fully
prepared for a long-drawn-out war.
It is important in this context to accelerate the production of arms
and ammunition. The soldiers of the People’s Army at the front are
now crying for more weapons and ammunition.
In meeting this demand, the workers of this factory have a very
important role to play. Whether a large amount of arms and
ammunition is sent to the front or not depends on the efforts of the
workers of this factory. The struggle for arms and ammunition is the
struggle for an earlier ultimate victory of the Fatherland Liberation
War. Keeping in mind the weighty and honourable task you should
strive to raise the quality as well as the quantity of arms and
ammunition.
The immediate task for Factory No. 65 is to increase the production
of mortars and sub-machine guns.
Mortars are powerful weapons suitable to the mountainous terrains
in our country. Also it is easy to manufacture them because they are
simple in structure.
This factory should concentrate on the manufacture of mortars. Even
if you have to reassign the factory’s machine operators you must do it in
such a way that all the machines in the mortar shop are operated to
increase the production of mortars. At the same time, malfunctioning
guns and those captured should be repaired and sent to the front.
A sub-machine gun suits the physique of Koreans, and is almost as
powerful as a machine gun in short-range firing. The soldiers of the
People’s Army fighting at the front say that they find it the best.
The factory should launch a vigorous campaign for technical
innovations, increase the rate of equipment operation and thus produce
more sub-machine guns and double the output of their barrels in
particular. We must have these barrels in reserve to replace worn-out
ones promptly.
In order to increase the production of arms and ammunition you
must maintain the equipment with greater care.
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This is the way to increase the rate of operation of equipment and
normalize production. The factory should have a preventive
maintenance programme and implement it strictly. You should thus
prevent accidents and maximize the utilization of machines. In
particular, you must take stringent measures to keep precision
machines such as those in the screwgrinder compartment of the tools
shop away from moisture and take good care of them.
It is important for workers to handle their equipment responsibly
with the attitude of masters. Workers are the owners of machines and
equipment, and it is they and none other that operate them and turn out
products. So these can be maintained properly only when the workers
are aroused to voluntary enthusiasm. The factory should intensify
political and ideological education among the workers so that they
value their machines and equipment like the apple of their eye, and
observe technical regulations voluntarily and become fully versed in
handling their equipment.
Also, machines and equipment should be arranged rationally and
utilized better.
The drive for technical innovation should be spread widely.
The reserve for increased production lies mainly in technical
innovation. Technical innovation can make the work easier and
increase labour productivity. Technical innovation is absolutely
necessary in coping with current manpower shortage as well as raising
the rate of utilization of equipment in the factory. Every worker and
technician in the factory must strive to adopt advanced techniques and
help to develop the movement for invention and rationalization on a
large scale.
Since the technical innovation movement is meant to replace
outdated techniques with advanced ones, it is necessary to combat
passivism and mysticism about technique, if the movement is to be
successful. Officials of the factory must wage a relentless ideological
struggle against all evil practices which hamper technical innovations
by clinging to outdated techniques and experience. They must actively
encourage and promote technical innovation schemes of the workers.
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Workers and technicians should also help and learn from each other
and continue to renovate production equipment and processes by
stepping up creative cooperation between them.
The factory should set their targets for technological development
properly and set about introducing technical innovation first in jobs
that are backbreaking and labour-consuming. In view of the acute
manpower shortage in the factory, it would be a good idea to begin
with a technical innovation movement, say, to let a man handle many
machines.
Materials and tools should be provided properly.
Supplying materials in time is no easy job under the difficult
wartime conditions. Of course, the state will provide the factory with
materials needed for arms production on a preferential basis. But the
factory leadership should organize the supply of materials
meticulously so that there is no stoppage of arms production on
account of material shortage. Besides, materials should be stored and
handled in a responsible way lest the workers waste the valuable assets
of the state.
You should meet your own demand for tools by organizing their
production properly. If you are to do this you must lay solid
foundations for their production. The factory should utilize the existing
facilities for manufacturing tools to the maximum and at the same time
increase tools production capacity by reinforcing the facilities for the
purpose. Fine workers should be assigned to this job and skilled
workers encouraged to settle down to this work.
The problem of acute manpower shortage should be tackled.
The factory is said to be short of manpower because many of its
young workers are away fighting. Unless this shortage is overcome
soon, production will suffer in these times of war.
The key to the solution of this acute problem lies in tapping
manpower reserves within the factory itself by improving labour
management. The factory should examine the distribution of its work
force, concentrate it in the productive areas, organize work rationally
and encourage the workers to voluntary enthusiasm. In particular, a
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campaign should be launched among the workers to do in addition the
share of work left behind by their comrades now fighting at the front,
to work in the right spirit of destroying the enemy-US imperialism.
This will solve the acute problem of manpower shortage to a
considerable degree.
The state will provide this factory with some of the necessary
manpower. A step has been taken to recall the technicians and skilled
workers who went to the front from this factory. They will be back
soon. Some additional labourers can be recruited. So you must be
prepared to receive the new additions.
One of the important tasks before this factory is to train technical
personnel well.
If we are to manufacture high-quality weapons and develop the
ordnance industry on the lines of new technology, we must have many
technicians and specialists equipped with the progressive ideology and
modem technology.
Factory No. 65 should be developed into a base for training
technicians and specialists needed for the progress of our ordnance
industry. For the present an evening college should be set up as a
branch school of the Kim Chaek Polytechnical Institute. The students
enrolled should be selected from among those people who have been
tempered in the flames of war and should be trained to become
excellent technical cadres of the nation. Factory officials should guide
and help the evening college responsibly, taking particular care to
provide students with every necessary condition for studying so that
they have no inconvenience. The factory should appoint technicians
trained by it to the posts of chief engineers and deputy managers of its
workshops.
These large-scale training programmes should be accompanied by a
radical improvement in the skill and technical know-how of the
workers. At present the low level of their efficiency keeps them from
attaining greater success in arms production. Technological study and
skill imparting should be encouraged among the workers so that
everyone can master his job and raise his technical level to the next
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higher grade as quickly as possible. Great efforts should be directed to
training a large number of workers skilled in tools production in
particular.
The factory should be guarded well with heightened revolutionary
vigilance.
While attempting an adventurous offensive at the front, the enemy
is now sending spies, saboteurs and other subversive elements into the
northern half of Korea to harass our rear and undermine our ra nk s from
within. Reactionary elements already lurking in the northern half of
Korea are also working to frustrate wartime production and make the
people uneasy. So, if we do not intensify revolutionary vigilance, there
will be irretrievable consequences.
Party organizations within the factory should intensify ideological
education among the employees to enable them to detect and quash
promptly any subversive and sabotaging activity on the part of the
enemy.
The factory should tighten its security. It should organize its own
troop of armed guards to defend itself firmly from hostile
encroachment.
It must take stringent measures to protect itself from attacks by
rampant US imperialist air pirates. You should plant many trees around
the factory so as to camouflage it well. Shelters should be provided for
employees and an air defence force posted near the factory. Any other
step necessary to protect it from the enemy’s bombing should be taken
thoroughly.
Supply service for the workers should be improved.
It is the main duty of factory officials to do supply service well and
enable the workers to apply themselves to production without the least
inconvenience.
Officials of the factory should pay a deep attention to improving the
dietary standard of the workers.
The dining hall should be well equipped, and the quality of food
raised. If only they make efforts, the leadership personnel can raise the
dietary standard as much as they want to. You can sprout the beans
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supplied by the state, cook and spice them or curdle them for the
workers. The workers of this ordnance factory should also be supplied
daily with twenty grammes of cooking oil.
In order to feed the workers better, the factory should make sideline
efforts properly on its own. I will see to it that the state provides it with
land and a state-owned stock farm needed for its sideline economy.
You should manage them well and supply workers adequately with
vegetables, meat and various other non-staple food.
Factory officials should also strive to satisfy the need of the
workers for houses, dormitories, bathrooms and other service facilities.
The existing dormitory is not too good. It must be replaced with
new buildings which should be scattered at the sunny foot of the
mountain. The bathrooms, barber’s shops and other service facilities
should be well arranged lest the workers should have any
inconvenience in their day-to-day lives, getting their hair cut and
having a bath regularly. Special attention should be paid to looking
after the women workers who constitute a large section of the factory’s
work force.
Efforts should be made to promote the health of the workers.
A night rest home should be set up at the factory to let the workers
rest there at night after the day’s work. Many workers should be sent to
the state rest homes and holiday homes.
The clinic at the factory should be enlarged into a hospital to
improve medical aid for the workers. The state will have to send more
doctors and supply plenty of medicine and instruments to the hospital.
The workers are not only the most revolutionary but also the most
cultured class. Conditions for a cultural life should be provided well
for the workers to be always cheerful in and out of work, reading,
singing and dancing even in the raging flames of war. It will be a good
idea to develop amateur art activity widely among the workers from
now on. Writers and artists shall be sent to the factory, if necessary, to
help in this activity.
If the accounts of heroic struggles of workers of this factory are
strung together, it will be a fine collection of great educative value. A
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film should be made about their heroic struggles to be shown, after we
have won the war, to the people and the rising generation. Also, after
the Fatherland Liberation War, the machines which helped so much in
arms production should be exhibited in a museum to propagate widely
the achievements of our working class during the war.
I firmly believe that in the future, too, as in the past, all the
employees of Factory No. 65 will raise the quality and quantity of
weapons for the front, by fully displaying patriotic devotion and mass
heroism. Thus they will contribute greatly to the ultimate victory in the
Fatherland Liberation War.
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PROCLAMATION
February 24, 1951
The US imperialist aggressor army and the traitor Syngman Rhee
and his clique are now on the brink of collapse and are growing more
brutal and rampant as they are hit harder by the People’s Army and
driven closer to their doom.
The enemy is resorting to every means of infiltrating spies and
secret agents into our ranks. In an attempt to damage the prestige of the
People’s Army and to break the close ties between the army and the
people, the puppet army soldiers disguised as men of the People’s
Army have been infiltrating into the liberated areas and raping women,
killing people and plundering their property.
In order to encourage all citizens to expose and crush these moves
of the enemy with the highest degree of vigilance, I issue the following
proclamation:
1. All citizens, without exception, shall be strictly forbidden to hide or
offer lodgings to strangers without permission of local government organs.
2. Citizens shall be forbidden to deliver means of transport and
foodstuffs without permission of local government organs or an
application in writing.
3. Soldiers travelling about without bearing identification cards or
passes shall be reported immediately to the patrol headquarters or the
interior services, which in turn shall investigate them and escort them
to the authorities concerned.
4. Persons who violate this Proclamation shall be dealt with
according to the wartime law.
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CENTRAL TASKS OF PARTY POLITICAL
WORK IN THE PEOPLE’S ARMY
Speech Delivered at the Meeting of the Chiefs of the Political
Departments of Korean People’s Army Corps and Divisions
March 6, 1951
Comrades,
The Korean people’s great Fatherland Liberation War against the
US imperialist invaders and their stooges, the traitorous Syngman
Rhee clique, has been going on for nine months now.
At the first stage of this war the heroic People’s Army frustrated
their surprise invasion, switched over to the counteroffensive, and
pressed the enemy into a narrow sector in North and South Kyongsang
Provinces; the second stage was marked by the temporary strategic
retreat which was forced on us by the massive landing in the Inchon
area made by the US imperialists who brought in even their satellite
troops under the signboard of the UN, to say nothing of all their own
aggressive forces in the Pacific area; now we find ourselves at the third
stage, having repelled by another counteroffensive the enemy who
invaded the northern half to the south of the 38th Parallel, and making
solid preparations for the ultimate triumph in the war.
The situation at the front is now turning in our favour. Having
liberated the area of the north completely from the enemy’s temporary
occupation, the People’s Army seized the initiative in battles in close
cooperation with the Chinese People’s Volunteers, and is dealing a
crushing blow at the US imperialist invaders.
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Today our people and the officers and men of the People’s Army
who have risen up in the righteous Fatherland Liberation War are
performing their noble historic mission in good faith, convinced of
victory, and in an indomitable fighting spirit. The officers and men of
the People’s Army are fully displaying lofty patriotism and
unparalleled mass heroism in fierce battles against the enemy and
firmly defending the people’s democratic system.
In the course of the war the People’s Army has grown stronger.
Many new People’s Army units have been formed and sent to the front,
and the Workers’ Party of Korea has formed its organizations in all
army units. This has increased the combat efficiency of the People’s
Army tremendously.
Now even the US imperialist aggressors cannot but admit that the
People’s Army is formidable and that they will be unable to win the
war on the strength of “technical superiority” alone.
Nevertheless, the brutal invaders are still persisting in their attempt
to realize their aggressive design on Korea. The enemy is regrouping
and reinforcing in an effort to launch a massive offensive.
In this situation we must anticipate a large campaign to counter the
enemy and must be fully prepared to cope with a long-drawn-out war.
We must never rest content with our success and fight stubbornly for
the ultimate victory with a firm determination to wipe out the US
imperialist aggressors.
If we are to win the Fatherland Liberation War ultimately, we must
improve Party political work in the People’s Army. Thi s is very
important.
Now I am going to talk to you on a few problems in improving
Party political work in the People’s Army.
First, you must bring home to every soldier the righteous character
of the Fatherland Liberation War and the justness of our cause.
Only when they understand them clearly, can they display matchless
heroism in battles and defend the country at the cost of their blood.
The Korean people’s Fatherland Liberation War is a just war to
defend the independence and freedom of the country from US
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imperialist invasion and a sacred war to safeguard the peace and
security of the world. That is why the Korean people and the People’s
Army have stood up as one in the sacred tight for the independence
and freedom of the country with a burning hatred and hostility against
the aggressors.
Because of the righteousness of the war waged by our people and
the justness of our cause, the socialist countries and the world’s
peace-loving people are giving active support and moral and material
aid to the Korean people, protesting and denouncing the US
imperialists for their aggression on Korea and launching a vigorous
movement against their aggressive war.
The war waged by the US imperialists is an unjust, aggressive war
in every respect. Dreaming of world domination, they have provoked
this piratic aggression on our country to turn the whole of Korea into
their colony. For this reason, ever since the provocation of the war
they have met with the heroic resistance of the Korean people and a
concerted opposition from the peace-loving people all over the world.
So they are doomed to failure. This is a law of historical
development. History shows that even most brutal and powerful
aggressors have never been able to conquer a people who, with a clear
understanding of the justness of their cause, stood up as one against
the enemy.
In the past the anti-Japanese guerrillas fought an arduous and
bloody war for 15 long years against the most brutal and reactionary
Japanese imperialist aggressors. In an attempt to wipe out the
anti-Japanese guerrillas, the Japanese imperialists launched large-scale
“mopping-up” operations by mobilizing their Kwantung Army one
million strong, while at the same time resorting to all sorts of political
stratagems. But they could never stamp out the anti-Japanese
guerrillas. The genuine Korean communists fought the Japanese
imperialists to the last with a single desire to win the country’s
independence, determined to lay down their lives in battle rather than
live in slavery under Japanese imperialism. They destroyed the
Japanese imperialists and at last achieved national liberation.
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The decisive factor in the outcome of a war lies not in the weapons
or numerical strength of an army but in the spiritual and moral calibre
of the soldiers and people participating in the war. In other words, the
fate of a war is decided by the soldiers’ and people’s awareness of the
validity of their cause and by the enthusiasm with which they fight.
Political workers must give the officers and men of the People’s
Army a clear understanding of the righteous character and purpose of
our war so that they devote their all to the struggle for the ultimate
victory in the war.
Second, you should consolidate the Party organizations newly
formed in the units and raise the vanguard role of the Party members.
In October last year, the Political Committee of the Party Central
Committee decided on forming Party organizations in all units in order
to strengthen Party guidance of the People’s Army and improve its
political work in the army. Consolidating these Party organizations and
enhancing the role of its membership in every way is of great
significance in increasing the combat efficiency of the People’s Army
and guaranteeing victory in battles.
In order to strengthen Party organizations in the army and raise
their function and role, it is necessary, above all, to have fine people in
the Party leadership bodies at all levels.
Only when Party leadership bodies are built up with hard-core
members, can Party organizations play their part to the full. In the
People’s Army there are many fine Party members who have
experienced at first hand oppression and exploitation by capitalists and
landlords in the years of Japanese imperialism, and since liberation
actively participated in the fierce class struggle to carry out the
agrarian and other democratic reforms and in the work for the
rehabilitation and development of the devastated economy and have
been tempered in battles against the US imperialist aggressors. They
are excellent Party members who have a strong hatred for the class
enemies and are ready to lay down their lives for the Party and the
people’s state power. Party leadership bodies at all levels in the
People’s Army should consist of such excellent members.
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In the People’s Army, regimental and battalion Party committees
should be well composed and, in particular, the cell, the Party’s basic
unit, strengthened.
If the Party cell is to be strengthened, it must have a competent
chairman and his role must increase. Only then will the men truly
respect him and report everything, both the problems related to their
military duties and personal affairs, to the Party organization and fight
more courageously, with faith in the Party organization. And only then
can the company unite firmly with a single idea and will and become a
revolutionary unit permeated with comradeship. So great attention
should be paid to selecting qualified chairmen of Party cells and
enhancing their role.
In order to strengthen Party organizations at all levels, the higher
bodies should strengthen their guidance to the lower units.
Building up solidly Party leadership bodies at all levels is only the
first step towards strengthening Party organizations. The next step to
be taken following the formation of the leadership bodies with fine
people is to help them regularly in their work and lead them forward.
This is the way to raise their political and practical levels and enhance
the function and role of the Party organizations.
Even in difficult battle situations chiefs of political departments
should often go down to the units and elements to acquaint themselves
fully with the work of their subordinates and help them properly.
Since Party organizations are new to the People’s Army, quite a few
of its political workers are little experienced in Party work and are at a
low level. Chiefs of political departments, therefore, should teach their
subordinates in various forms and methods-short courses, exchange of
experience and the like. You should teach them first how to plan the
cell work, and then how to prepare for Party meetings and conduct
them, how to give the members assignments and review their
implementation, and how to work among people. In this way they will
be trained to do Party work on their own in any battle situation.
Close attention should also be paid to training hard-core elements
of the Party cell.
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Training the nucleus of the Party is of tremendous significance in
strengthening our Party. If they train their hard-core elements and raise
their role, Party cells will grow stronger; and when all the Party cells
are stronger, the whole Party will be more powerful. If a large number
of hard-core elements are trained at the cells, the combat efficiency of
the unit will increase, and the unit will always win the battle.
Party cells should steadily expand the ra nks of the hard-core
elements the existing ones training new ones, and the new ones still
others.
Party organization should strengthen the Party life of its members
and raise their vanguard role.
The Party cell should educate, guide and control all its members to
help them to participate in its meetings zealously, make creative
suggestions actively and thoroughly implement the decisions adopted
there. And the cell should give assignments to all its members, help
them to fulfil them thoroughly and sum up their results in time. Every
Party member should thus be always on the move.
When the organizational life of Party members is strengthened in this
way, they will play the vanguard role in performing the combat mission
of their units, and then the soldiers outside the Party, too, will follow
their example and carry out whatever difficult combat missions with
credit. Political department chiefs, therefore, should strive to consolidate
Party organizations, strengthen the membership’s Party life and enhance
their vanguard role in carrying out their combat missions.
Third, the sense of responsibility and role of the political workers in
the People’s Army should be enhanced.
They are entrusted with the very heavy responsibility of increasing
the combat efficiency of their units and guaranteeing the
implementation of their combat missions politically. In other words,
the main duty of the army political workers is to work among the
soldiers properly and help them to acquit themselves well of the
honourable duties given by the Party, the country and the people.
Commander’s order alone is not at all enough to win a battle. If a
combat is to be successful, the commander must organize the battle
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well, and at the same time the men should be imbued with the aim of
fighting and the importance of their mission by means of efficient
political work among them. Only when the soldiers fully realize the
justness of their cause and clearly understand how important their
combat missions are in fulfilling the fighting task of the unit, will they
fight courageously against the enemy and perform their missions in
good faith. Accordingly, we can say that the political workers in the
army hold as important a place as military commanders do.
In those years of anti-Japanese armed struggle, the political
commissars in the guerrilla army played a tremendous role. When
attacking the enemy, they always stood at the head of the unit and
inspired the men to victory; when retreating or on the march, they
protected and took care of their men at the rear of the column. When
they saw their political commissar at the head of the attacking force,
the men assaulted the enemy with redoubled courage; when they found
him at the rear in retreat or on a difficult march, they felt reassured and
overcame difficulties and hardships with fortitude.
Political department chiefs should enhance political workers’ sense
of responsibility and role in every way, bearing in mind that that is a
basic guarantee for greater combat efficiency of their units and for
victory.
What, then, are the tasks of political workers in the People’s Army?
The first and foremost task is to conduct properly the political and
ideological education of the soldiers.
This is the most important duty of the political workers.
In political and ideological education, primary attention should be
paid to equipping the soldiers firmly with our Party’s line and policy.
Party line and policy are the only guide to all our activities and
lives. Only when they are equipped with them, can the soldiers think
and act according to the Party’s idea and intention and carry out its
strategic and tactical policy. Amy political workers should induce the
soldiers to study harder the Party line and policy and, in particular,
imbue every soldier with them correctly as soon as they are adopted
from time to time.
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Political workers should teach the soldiers clearly the character and
mission of the People’s Army and inspire them with a firm conviction
of victory.
The People’s Army, made up of the fine sons and daughters of the
workers, peasants and other working people, is the genuine army of the
people and our Party’s revolutionary armed force which has inherited the
brilliant revolutionary traditions of the anti-Japanese armed struggle.
It is the historic mission of the People’s Army to defend the country
and the democratic system from the enemy’s encroachment, liberate
the suffering people in the south from the yoke of US imperialism and
reunify the country. In contrast, the army of an imperialist country is a
reactionary army to protect the interests of a handful of the exploiting
classes-the landlords and capitalists, oppress and exploit the workers,
peasants and other working people, the overwhelming majority of the
population, invade and oppress other countries and peoples.
Political workers should clearly explain to the soldiers what the
People’s Army is and who they are fighting for, by comparing it with
the imperialist aggressive army. They should thus convince all officers
and men of the People’s Army that it is a new type of revolutionary
army fundamentally different from imperialist armies, so that they
defend at the cost of their lives the Party, country and people from
enemy aggression.
You should also instil in the minds of the servicemen a firm belief
that the enemy will be inevitably defeated and that we will triumph
without fail, and encourage them to strive for the sacred cause of
destroying the enemy.
And the political workers should educate the officers and men of
the People’s Army to hate the enemy.
Only when they have a bitter hatred for the enemy, can the soldiers
fight heroically against the US imperialists and their stooges.
What is important in inculcating hatred for the enemy on the
soldiers is to give them a clear idea of the aggressive nature of US
imperialism and its atrocities.
The US imperialists are the sworn enemy of our people. They
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started invading our country a long time ago and also plundered its
wealth a great deal. When our country won freedom, the US
imperialists sneaked into south Korea under the cloak of “liberator”,
enforced fascist military government and dissolved all the people’s
committees set up on the initiative of all the people, arresting,
imprisoning, or killing a large number of the south Korean people.
The US imperialists provoked the criminal war of aggression
against the northern half of Korea in order to make our country their
colony. And ever since they have been employing all sorts of brutal
methods unprecedented in the history of war. They have devastated our
country by bombing peaceful towns, villages, schools, hospitals and
cultural establishments without discrimination. They are strafing and
slaughtering even children playing in the field and old men on the road.
In the areas they occupied temporarily during our retreat in
particular, the enemy massacred innocent people in a brutal manner
unparalleled in history. As you know well, the mass slaughter in
Sinchon committed by the US imperialists is a glaring evidence of the
brutal nature of these cannibals. In Sinchon County alone they
massacred tens of thousands of people. They burnt or buried innocent
people alive, even ripped the abdomens of pregnant women and
mutilated the embryos, allegedly to exterminate the “Reds”. These
atrocities are beyond all description. The US imperialist beasts
snatched children from their mothers, locked them up in a storehouse
and gave them gasoline when the thirsty children were crying for
water. They thrilled with delight at the sight of the children doubled up
and writhing in anguish from drinking gasoline. On top of it, the fiends
showered gasoline over the victims and burnt them up. How appalling!
The US imperialist aggressors peipetrated such atrocities in the
whole area of their temporary occupation in the north. It would be
impossible to enumerate them all. We cannot simply keep their
brutalities in record as a historical document or hear of them. We must
take a thousandfold revenge upon the US imperialist aggressors and
avenge the massacred.
Political workers should explain to the soldiers with vivid facts the
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nefarious atrocities committed by the US imperialists so that they will
wipe out these fiends.
The army men should be educated better to have a clear
understanding of the reactionary nature of the puppet regime of
Syngman Rhee, the faithful lackey of the US imperialists, and the
exploitative character of the landlord and capitalist classes.
The next task for the political workers is to educate the soldiers
properly to establish iron discipline.
Discipline is the life and soul of an army and the source of its
combat efficiency. A well-disciplined army will always triumph; an
ill-disciplined army will never avoid defeat.
The military and political situation now in our country requires the
People’s Army to strengthen its discipline. We are fighting the US
imperialist aggressors, the boss of world reaction, and the troops from
their fifteen satellite states. But there are many recruits in the People’s
Army at present. So, if we are to defeat the enemy, we must have
rigorous discipline in the army. Discipline should be all the more rigid
in a difficult combat situation.
In order to establish iron discipline and order in the People’s Army, the
barrack service regulations, disciplinary regulations, garrison regulations
and other regulations and manuals should be brought home to the officers
and men so that they obey them thoroughly in their daily routine.
The discipline of the People’s Army is a revolutionary discipline
based on the soldiers’ awareness in all respects, unlike the coercive
discipline of the capitalist armies maintained by means of the club.
Political workers should fully explain to the soldiers the purpose and
importance of establishing discipline and encourage them to observe it
voluntarily. In particular, soldiers should be taught to obey and
implement the orders and instructions of their superiors to the letter.
Further, the political workers should work in unity with military
commanders and help them well in their job.
Some political workers seem to neglect consultation with military
commanders on their work at present. This is not proper. Political
workers should always discuss everything with the commanding
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officers-problems ranging from the combat readiness of their units to
the soldiers’ daily routine-and solve them by mutual cooperation.
Political workers should give prominence to military commanders,
ensure their work politically and help them to promptly rectify their
mistakes, if any. Political workers should help commanding officers to
take correct decisions and see that the Party ensures that the soldiers
carry out the combat orders of their commanding officers. Then, the
commanders will be encouraged to rely on the political organs and Party
organizations in their work, and their comradely unity will be promoted.
Political workers should take loving care of the soldiers as their
own flesh and blood and look after them with all sincerity.
The servicemen are precious revolutionary comrades whose bloom
of youth and lives are dedicated without hesitation to the defence of the
country from the invasion by the US imperialists and their lackeys. So
treasuring and taking loving care of them with all one’s heart is the
noble duty and revolutionary ethics of the political workers.
The better the political workers look after the soldiers, the harder
will the men strive to apply themselves to their military service without
minding the least inconvenience and the more bravely will they fight
the enemy in towering spirits. The political workers should bear in
mind that their concern for the men’s daily lives is not something of a
mere supply service but an important political work to unite them
closely around the Party with one thought and will.
During the anti-Japanese armed struggle the political workers of the
guerrilla army always loved the men and took care of them like their
own brothers. When they found exhausted men on a difficult march,
they would help them by carrying their packs and weapons for them:
when they came to bivouac, they made arrangements for the men to
sleep and even took care of the men’s footwear meticulously. The
political workers in the Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Army regarded it as
their natural duty and revolutionary ethics to do all this. The guerrilla
army was able to emerge victorious in the long-drawn-out, arduous
revolutionary struggle because its ranks were solidly united and
permeated with such revolutionary comradeship and ethics.
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Political workers in the People’s Army should pay close attention to
the life of the soldiers just as their forerunners did in the Anti-Japanese
Guerrilla Army. They should see to it that the men eat well, sleep
comfortably, wear well-fitting uniforms and change their underwear
frequently. And they should always go among the men and see
carefully if there is not any sick comrade or if there is not anything
inconvenient to them. And they should promptly help them to solve
their problems, if any. In battles they must take prompt measures to
give first aid to the wounded. If the political workers treasure and love
the men like their own brothers and look after them kindly, the men
will respect and follow them all the more and perform their combat
missions without fail however difficult the situation.
Deeply aware of their heavy but honourable duty, the political
workers of the People’s Aimy should do their best to raise their sense
of responsibility and role.
Fourth, the People’s Army units should strengthen the ties with the
local Party and government bodies and help them actively in their work.
Officials of Party and government bodies and public organizations
have been dispatched to the areas liberated from the temporary
occupation of the US imperialist aggressors. They are now very busy
with a great deal of work, rehabilitating and rearranging the Party and
government organs, exposing and purging hostile elements, stabilizing
the people’s livelihood, rushing the preparations for farming. These
colossal tasks cannot be done properly only by the efforts of the
officials from above. The People’s Army units, therefore, should give
active assistance to the Party and government bodies in the area where
they are stationed.
The political workers should intensify the education of soldiers and
teach them to love and respect the people, guard their interests
thoroughly and strive to stabilize the people’s livelihood.
I was told that a certain unit during military training trampled upon
growing wheat and barley. This is very bad. Back at your units, you
should take prompt measures to prevent the recurrence of such
phenomena and help peasants in their farming as much as possible.
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People’s Army units must also assist the people in their struggle to
crush the moves of hostile elements.
During our temporary retreat the US imperialist aggressors brought
back the landlords, capitalists and other class enemies who had fled to
the south after liberation and slaughtered innocent people at random.
When they took to flight they left behind many spies, subversive
elements and saboteurs in the north. The class enemies who had no
time to escape, encountering the sweeping re-advance of the People’s
Army, hid themselves in mountains or villages. These lurking hostile
elements are now engaged in subversion and sabotage in a frantic
attempt to overthrow the democratic system in the northern half. So the
People’s Army units should attack the hostile elements harder, mop
them up and boost the morale of the people.
Fifth, energetic efforts should be made to develop the political work
and military affairs of the People’s Army in conformity with the reality
in our country.
This is very urgent today. We are fighting in Korea, not in any other
country, and involved in this war are the very Koreans. Therefore,
conducting and developing political and military activities to suit our
specific conditions is an important guarantee for victory in the
Fatherland Liberation War.
At present, some workers try to copy foreign ways of political work
rather than do it in conformity with the preparedness and
characteristics of our soldiers. You must not imitate any foreign style
of political work. They are not suitable to us.
The political workers should do their work in various forms and
ways to suit our specific scene, the ideas, emotions and psychological
makeup of our servicemen. We have the rich experience gained in
political work during the anti-Japanese armed struggle and peaceful
construction after liberation. And we have the excellent experience
acquired in political work at the time of the first counteroffensive,
experience of the motivation workers who, shouting encouraging
slogans on the firing line, inspired the soldiers to victory. The political
workers should study and develop our good experience of political
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work to get the soldiers fully prepared politically and ideologically.
In military affairs, too, we should study and develop our nation’s war
experience properly and adopt tactics suitable to our country’s specific
conditions. Our soldiers differ from foreign soldiers in physique. And
there are a number of special features in our terrain and climatic
conditions. That is why we must not follow foreign combat regulations
and tactics dogmatically; we must work out even a combat plan in
keeping with our specific conditions. The political workers should
educate the soldiers energetically in such a way that they will value our
own things and study them deeply and strive to develop them further.
In conclusion, the People’s Army units should strengthen
friendship and solidarity with the Chinese People’s Volunteers.
The Communist Party and people of China have sent the Volunteers
composed of their fine sons and daughters to help the Korean people in
their just Fatherland Liberation War against the US imperialist
aggressors, under the banner of “Resist US aggression and aid Korea,
protect our homes and defend our motherland!” At present, the
Chinese People’s Volunteers are fighting well at the front assisting the
People’s Army and in the rear helping the people actively in their
work. We are very much grateful to them.
In the past, too, the Korean and Chinese peoples fought shoulder to
shoulder against the Japanese imperialists and their stooges. During the
anti-Japanese armed struggle the genuine Korean communists helped
the Chinese people in their anti-Japanese struggle at the cost of their
blood, and a large number of Korea’s sons and daughters shed blood in
the Chinese people’s civil war against the Jiang Jieshi clique. The
Chinese soil is dyed red with the blood of the Korean revolutionaries.
As in the past, so also in the future, the People’s Army units should
strengthen internationalist friendship and solidarity with the Chinese
People’s Volunteers and in close cooperation with them wipe out the
US imperialist aggressors everywhere.
I am convinced that you will improve Party political work, increase
the combat efficiency of your units and win greater victories in battles
against the enemy.
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THE STRUGGLE FOR FOOD IS A STRUGGLE
FOR THE COUNTRY AND FOR VICTORY
AT THE FRONT
Talk with Peasants in South Phyongan Province
March 15, 1951
The situation at the front is now turning in our favour. This
brightens the prospect of ultimate victory for the Korean people in their
righteous war.
When the US imperialists invaded our country, they thought they
could intimidate the Korean people by brutal bombing and naval gunfire,
and subjugate our country and nation by blitz warfare. But the last nine
months of war has shown that not only they failed to conquer our country
and people, but are facing an ignominious defeat due to the counterattacks
of the heroic People’s Army and the Chinese People’s Volunteers.
Why are the US imperialist aggressive forces, the so-called “most
powerful” in the world with formidable naval and air fleets and superior
technical equipment who were desperate to dominate the whole world,
now suffering a shameful defeat at the hands of our People’s Army
which is not even half as well equipped, and is only three years old? It is
because the Korean people, now masters of their own destiny, are
fighting a just liberation war, defending the independence and honour of
their country from the encroachment of the foreign imperialist
plunderers, under the support and encouragement of the world’s
freedom-loving people; because all our People’s Army soldiers are
displaying unparalleled courage and heroism in the life-and-death
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struggle against the enemy, clearly aware of the purpose and character of
the war, and bearing in mind that the destinies of the country, the people
and the coming generations are to be decided in this war. Our forefathers
left their posterity in a sorry plight as colonial slaves of imperialism but
we will never become colonial slaves again; we will hand down a bright
future and freedom to our coming generations.
For the US imperialist aggressor troops, it is a different question
altogether. They are engaged in a predatory war and so do not know
why they are shedding blood at the Korean front, and whom they are
fighting for. They are hired soldiers of imperialism. They are not
fighting for the liberty and independence of their country, but are
merely being used as an instrument by US monopolists to invade other
territories and conquer other nations.
That is why the US imperialist aggressors can never display as great
heroism and patriotic devotion as the soldiers of our People’s Army.
Nor can they win such a support of the people and international
encouragement as our People’s Army does. Instead, they are being
denounced, hated and cursed by people in their own country and all
over the world as aggressors, as provokers of a new war.
Today, we have fulfilled every condition required for victory.
During the last nine months of fierce fighting our people have united
closer round the Workers’ Party of Korea and the Government of the
Republic, have overcome all grim trials and are firmly convinced of
victory. At the same time, the combat efficiency of the People’s Army
has increased tremendously. The morale of this army at present is
sky-high. The prestige of the Republic has also risen considerably both
at home and abroad.
In contrast, the nine months of war has shown up growing
contradictions, conflicts and confusion, in the enemy camp. And the
morale of the enemy forces has fallen very low.
The favourable situation and sure prospect of victory, however, do
not mean that we can take our success for granted. It must be won
through organized efforts.
We have many difficulties and hardships. Only by breaking through
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all these obstacles can we emerge victorious. To this end, the peasants
should supply more provisions to the state and the army, increase their
support to the front and repair roads and bridges in time to ensure
transport of war supplies without a hitch. On the principle of mutual help
and self-reliance, they should stabilize their livelihood, consolidate the
home front and proceed with this year’s spring sowing successfully.
We are going to conduct spring sowing this year under the difficult
conditions of war. A large number of men in the countryside have
taken up arms and are away at the front to defend the freedom and
honour of the country. During his temporary occupation, the enemy
looted all seeds and cattle he could get hold of and destroyed farm
implements in large quantities. The Hungnam Fertilizer Factory, the
source of fertilizer supply in our country, is out of operation on account
of barbarous enemy bombing. This adds to the great difficulties in
spring sowing this year. But all this should not make the people sow
less area as compared with the previous years. The front and rear need
more provisions and industries call for more raw materials. The
struggle for food is a struggle for the country and for victory at the
front. “Let not an inch of land lie idle and let us produce even a single
grain more!” should be the militant slogan of our peasants.
This year’s sowing means fighting on a front. A failure at this front
would mean a defeat in the war and a success at the sowing front means
a victory in the war.
Flow, then, can we ensure proper sowing in these difficult conditions?
The Government of the Republic has adopted a decision on the
measures to ensure the sowing of crops for 1951, and the state is taking
every possible step to ensure spring farming. The state is loaning out food
grains and seeds to the peasants who have run out of them. The state-run
factories and producers’ cooperatives are turning out farm implements in
large numbers. But this alone will not solve all the problems.
If shortage of manpower, work animals, fertilizer and farm
implements is to be overcome, all the people need to display a sense of
creativity and enthusiasm, help and cooperate with each other and
utilize locally available resources to the maximum.
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Shortage of labour for spring sowing should be filled up through a
social movement to help the work by enlisting as many rural women as
possible and organizing spring ploughing teams of office employees,
workers, teachers, students, interior workers and soldiers in the rear.
Scarcity of draught animals should be overcome by forming oxen-sharing
teams to accommodate and help each other as well as by beginning
sowing earlier than usual; scarcity of seeds by lending and borrowing
them each other in the spirit of mutual aid; the shortage of fertilizer by
producing barnyard manure in large quantities. If, in this way, all the
reserves are tapped and creativity is displayed, the task of sowing will be
carried out on time without leaving even an inch of land idle.
The patriotic zeal of the peasants and the attitude with which the
local people’s committees and Party organizations guide the spring
farm work and help the peasants would be the deciding factor.
I firmly believe that our peasants will carry out this year’s spring
sowing successfully, braving whatever difficulties come in their way,
and thus hasten victory at the front.
In the nine months of war the people’s living conditions have
become much worse. Especially, the people who were in the area under
the enemy’s temporary occupation, are having a hard time. So the
Government of the Republic has recently taken a number of measures
to stabilize the livelihood of the people. It has set up camps for war
victims, oiphanages and schools for bereaved children of
revolutionaries, is supplying food, distributing relief goods, offering
state loans, supplying building materials, lending seeds to war victims.
The lives of the people have already been stabilized considerably by
such steps in many parts of the country.
Recently the Party and the Government have been taking further
steps to increase the production of essential goods and promote goods
distribution in order to stabilize the people’s livelihood even in the
raging war.
Thanks to the measures taken by the Party and the Government, the
Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Commerce, the consumers’ and
the producers’ cooperatives will produce daily necessities in a big way.
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The provincially-run factories and producers’ cooperatives in
particular will be operated actively. The state-owned and consumers’
cooperative trading organizations, too, will be rapidly rehabilitated.
Measures taken by the state will not by themselves be adequate to
increase production of essential goods and promote goods distribution.
This should he supplemented by creative efforts made by all the people
and their social movement, and by meticulous organizing work and
guidance on the part of local people’s committees and Party
organizations.
Let me take the case of raw materials for example. Shortage of raw
materials is now an obstacle in producing rubber shoes which are in
great demand among the people. This is why they are not able to make
more rubber shoes. What, then, is the real state of affairs? There are
plenty of worn-out rubber shoes. If they are collected through the
proper organization of a procurement campaign, a large amount of
potential raw material will be obtained.
Another example can be that of salt. They say that they have no salt
in Kangso and Nampho. But there are tens of thousands of tons of salt
in the salt fields 50-60 ri away from these places. If Nampho and
Kangso County People’s Committees and the state-owned and
consumers’ cooperative trade organs had planned and organized their
work meticulously to stabilize the people’s livelihood by giving rein to
the creativity of the people, they would not have cried for salt sitting on
a mountain of it. Such phenomena are not limited to Kangso or
Nampho, but are in evidence in many other districts in various forms.
The solution of such problems depends not only on Government
measures but on the people’s creativity as well as the efforts of the
local people’s committees and Party organizations which are to enlist
this creativity.
If we give full play to the creativity of the broad masses and
organize and guide the work meticulously to implement correctly the
Government policy on increasing the production of daily necessities
and improving goods distribution, we shall be able to satisfy the
wartime demand of the people for daily necessities.
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LET US KEEP THE UNIT PERFECTLY
READY AND ALERT
Talk to Soldiers of Unit 657
of the Korean People’s Army
March 17, 1951
You comrades have fought courageously since the very day when the
US imperialist aggressors and traitorous Syngman Rhee clique provoked
the war, and now are admirably carrying out your honourable combat
mission to defend Pyongyang, the revolutionary capital. You achieved
splendid feats in the battles to liberate Seoul and Taejon as well as in
many other battles. You also overcame difficulties and trials, obtaining
weapons, ammunition, food and clothes for yourselves, in your arduous
struggle behind enemy lines and encircled and annihilated a large number
of the enemy. I would like to offer my thanks to you for your excellent
services in the battles during the first counteroffensive and also for the
brilliant exploits you performed behind enemy lines during the temporary
retreat and re-advance, displaying patriotic devotion and mass heroism.
The present situation at the front is excellent. The units of the
People’s Army, in close coordination with those of the Chinese
People’s Volunteers, have liberated the entire northern half of Korea
which the enemy occupied temporarily, and they are carrying on
successful battles south of the 38th Parallel. The People’s Army and
guerrilla units are active behind enemy lines, too. Today, the situation
is developing decisively in our favour. There is every possibility of
our winning final victory.
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We have the Workers’ Party of Korea, the leading and guiding
force of the Korean people, which always leads them and their army to
victory and a consolidated home front, The people at home, rallied
firmly around the Party, are coming out as one for wartime production
to ensure victors in the war, while, at the same time, loving the
People’s Army as their own flesh and blood and actively supporting
them. Thanks to their justified cause and courageous struggle, our
people and the People’s Army enjoy the unreserved support and
encouragement from the peoples of the Soviet Union, China and other
fraternal countries and from other peace- loving people the world over.
We are sure to wipe out the US imperialist aggressors and win final
victory. You must be convinced that victory is ours and execute your
combat assignments more splendidly.
You must never be carried away by the successes already achieved.
We must remember that the closer their downfall approaches, the more
desperate the enemy become. Having suffered an ignominious defeat
militarily and politically in the Korean war, the US imperialists will
not quit this war meekly and are running amuck in an effort to realize
their aggressive ambition. Therefore, the war may be even more fierce
and protracted. You must keep yourselves perfectly ready and alert.
However, your unit is not adequately prepared for action. You are
not quick to meet an emergency call, your weapons and equipment are
not fully ready and there are quite a few shortcomings in combat
organization and training.
Even if you want to win a wrestling game, you should get
yourselves fully ready to fight. A People’s Army unit fighting the US
imperialist aggressors, who are equipped with modem weapons and
have a long history of aggression, should be even more prepared. Only
when you get your unit always well prepared for action, will you be
successful in the fulfilment of your combat assignments in any
situation.
Your combat mission is to crush possible invasion on this region by
enemy paratroopers or their amphibious troops from the West Sea and
strongly defend the west coast and Pyongyang, the democratic capital.
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Your unit should make all combat preparations to conform with this
task.
Your unit is now situated in an area where large forces of
paratroopers may be dropped. You should get ready to fight their
airborne forces, and when they start bailing out, destroy them in the air.
If some of them reach the ground, you should wipe them out by
charging fiercely, giving them no chance to catch their breath.
Proper battle formation is very important in the combat organization
of the unit. As for the present battle order, you have only one echelon,
which is insufficient for annihilating enemy paratroopers successfully.
In case you have to form battle order with only one echelon, you must
have a reserve force. In order to lure your forces the enemy may at first
drop some of their troops over an area which is not the main dropping
zone. In that case, your main force might be diverted there, and you
might be unable to wipe out the enemy’s main group descending
afterward. Therefore, you should have a reserve force, whose duty it
would be to crush the enemy troops dropped first, and your main force
should destroy its counterpart. The battle order of the unit should be
fomied in this way. If there is no enemy feint, your reserve can join the
main effort to wipe out the enemy.
Battalion defence organization must be coordinated with the
operational plan of the regiment within the regimental defence system.
Your battalions are now arrayed each in a single echelon; they, too,
should have a reserve each, as is the case with the regiment. Battle
order should be reorganized in this manner.
It is also important to organize the firing system properly. Heavy
machine guns and other small arms should be arrayed in a system
capable of concentrating fire on the area of probable invasion by the
enemy paratroopers. This firing system must also be able to deliver
cross fire all along the front of the defence sector without allowing
any defilades. Heavy machine guns are better up on hills. There it
will be easy to shoot down the enemy planes at preparatory bombing,
troop carriers flying low to drop airborne troops and also
paratroopers while falling.
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Anti-armour weapons should be so placed as to concentrate their
fire on areas where hostile airborne armour action is probable. You
have emplaced the anti-tank guns only on one side of the road. This is
improper. They should be on both sides to suit the terrain so that
enemy’s mechanized forces can he destroyed by cross fire. You had
better build alternate firing positions to cope with different situations.
The enemy invading by sea should be annihilated on the sea before
they are able to land. The area of possible enemy landing should be
manned with the main force and covered with cross fire. If the enemy
get ashore, they should be wiped out quickly by counterattack.
Defence positions should be reinforced. Then, they will withstand
any hostile bombing or gun fire, reduce loss to friendly forces and
increase enemy casualties. The enemy will saturate the target area with
bombs in preparation for their airborne invasion. You must remember
this and fortify your defensive positions.
Adequate measures should be taken to improve the mobility of the
unit. Fighting the enemy, whether from the sea or from the air, requires
a high degree of mobility. Your unit, in particular, as the second
echelon of the division, may be ordered, according to circumstances, to
reinforce the units which defend the west coast. A high degree of
mobility and secrecy are vital for a task force. Therefore, you should
always be well prepared to guarantee the swift movement of the unit.
All the mobile equipment should always be on the alert and the
route of counterattack from the position should be well maintained.
Increasing the ability to march is a guarantee for unit mobility. If
you are to forestall the enemy, you must move faster than the enemy.
During the anti-Japanese armed struggle the guerrillas would cover
hundreds of ri overnight to strike the enemy and return, appearing now
in the east and now in the west in a flash. You should increase your
marching ability to do the same.
The unit must have an effective command system and ensure
communications over the command network. Your movement, when
alerted, led me to think that your command system is not in proper
order. A signal from a commander in his post must be able to alert the
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entire unit at once. But the commander himself was scurrying about, to
move the unit. He cannot lead the unit properly with such a command
system. He should rearrange the command system thoroughly so that
he can move his unit swiftly without himself moving about.
If the unit is to be commanded satisfactorily, the signalmen should
always be well prepared for action. Unless communications are fully
guaranteed, one cannot command the battle properly or win it. That is
why communication is called the nerve of a unit. Clearly aware of the
importance of their duties, the signalmen should always keep radio sets
and other signal equipment ready for use at any moment and handle the
messages over the command network punctually.
Commanders, too, should themselves be able to handle means of
communications. If his radio operator is injured and put out of action,
the commander must himself use the radio set to command the battle.
Therefore, commanders should be familiar with the use of telephone
and wireless communications devices.
Strict observation of secrecy is very important in the use of
communications equipment. In this respect, the wire communication is
better than the wireless. You should use the radio only in the battle and
rely on wire communication in ordinary times.
If the combat efficiency of the unit is to be increased, it is
imperative to step up combat training.
Combat training should be carried out as though in actual battle, in
your own sector of defence, so as to master the methods necessary for
your combat mission and to know your weapons and equipment inside
out.
Lectures for staff members and command post exercises should be
intensified to raise the working ability of the staff and the
commanders’ qualifications.
Shooting and anti-aircraft-observation practices should be
conducted as well as exercises for cooperation between small units and
training in the command of battles. Units should be frequently alerted
and manoeuvred in different directions for training purpose. Both the
training of the whole unit to familiarize it with its combat mission, and
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that of its elements in the performance of their missions over specific
terrain, should be given frequently. Special effort should be directed to
training in the delivery of anti-aircraft fire to kill enemy paratroopers in
the air.
Artillery plays an important part in battle. Artillerymen should have
intensive firing practice in different terrain conditions in order to
become crack shots and conduct a great deal of their training in
coordination with infantry.
Training ought to be conducted on the basis of actual battle
experience. Platoon leaders, company and battalion commanders of
this unit have taken part in combats and accumulated a wealth of
experience since the first days of the war. This experience is very
precious and serves as an important asset for increasing the combat
capability of the unit. So commanders should study and generalize the
useful experience gained in battle and educate the soldiers in a number
of combat methods which can be applied to actual fighting.
It is necessary to modify slightly the unit’s combat training
programme. The training programme should be geared to the unit’s
specific combat mission and implemented in close context of it.
Vacancies in personnel and shortage of prescribed weapons and
equipment should be filled up quickly.
The unit has many comrades who have been to the Raktong River,
some of whom are Heroes of the Republic. All of them are the hard
core of the unit and the treasure of our Party. So many such comrades
in this unit mean that it has great combat efficiency. But the unit has
not yet a full complement of men, and also there are many new recruits
and men of little combat experience. You should fill up the
complement quickly and help the inexperienced men properly to be
able to carry out their combat mission on their own as soon as possible.
You should supplement the weapons, ammunition and equipment
you are lacking within a short period of time and take good care of the
ones you already have. In particular, you should always clean your
weapons and keep them in good shape. Cleaning weapons is not only
aimed at preserving their effectiveness, but also at keeping them in
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readiness to crush the enemy anytime. Therefore, cleaning and keeping
the weapons in good order means getting the unit ready for combat.
You have good weapons with which you destroyed a large number of
enemy troops, while advancing down to the Raktong River. The mortar
is a powerful weapon suitable to our mountainous country. It is one
that the Americans fear most. The sub-machine gun is also excellent.
For a short distance, it is equal to a machine gun. You must take good
care of all your weapons as though they were the apple of your eye.
During the anti-Japanese armed struggle the guerrillas often gave
up their lives to get a rifle. I was told that you brought all your weapons
and equipment with you from the Raktong River breaking through the
death line behind the enemy. This is indeed admirable. A soldier has no
right to abandon his weapon even at the last moment of his life. A
soldier who discards his weapon cannot protect his own life, to say
nothing of safeguarding the country and the people. In the future, too,
you should always take good care of your weapons and equipment as
though they were the apple of your eye and keep them in good shape,
so as to fight the enemy at any moment. You should also well preserve
those weapons associated with military exploits.
In order to raise the combat capacity of the unit, it is essential to
firmly prepare the soldiers politically and ideologically, while stepping
up their military-technical preparations in every way.
An important guarantee for increasing the fighting efficiency of the
unit is to equip the soldiers with a strong sense of class consciousness
and fighting efficiency. Commanders and political workers should
always pay primary attention to the work of strengthening political
education, so that all the soldiers will be deeply conscious of their
mission, and can fight resolutely for the Party and the revolution, for
the country and the people.
The class education of the soldiers should also be strengthened.
Only when they correctly understand who the class enemy is, hate
them implacably and have a firm resolve to destroy them without fail,
can they fight them bravely and be boundlessly loyal to the revolution.
During the anti-Japanese armed struggle, whether on the march or
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while resting, not to mention during study hours, we explained to the
guerrillas why we lived in poverty, who our class enemy was and what
we should do to defeat them. Since they knew clearly who their class
enemy was and had a high class spirit, the anti-Japanese guerrillas
fought courageously against the Japanese imperialists and their
stooges, and finally defeated them and liberated the country.
I was told that in the past, some of you, deprived of your lands and
houses by the Japanese imperialists and the landlords, were forced to
leave your beloved homes and lived in an alien country, maltreated and
humiliated in every way. At that time, there were few Koreans who
were not oppressed and exploited by the Japanese imperialists,
landlords and capitalists. Today the US imperialist aggressors are
reducing our towns, villages, schools and hospitals to ashes, and are
barbarously slaughtering our dear parents and brothers wherever they
go. I suppose many of you have had your families and relatives killed
in cold blood by the American imperialists and their lackeys.
Commanders and political workers should convince the soldiers
firmly that our class enemies are the US imperialist invaders and their
stooges, the traitorous Syngman Rhee clique, landlords and capitalists.
Then they all will hate them and have a strong class resolve to wipe out
the aggressors and their stooges and reunify the country.
Meanwhile, every soldier should be properly educated so that he
will have an indomitable revolutionary fighting spirit to endure any
hardship, courage, audacity, stamina and patience and will display
mass heroism in battle.
If you are to give the soldiers proper political and ideological
education, you should improve the political lectures and carry out the
study programme punctually. Political lecture plans should be
scrupulously prepared on the basis of the study programme; in
particular, they should be specific and closely coordinated with the
implementation of the actual combat mission of the unit. In order to
improve the quality of the political lecture plans and educate the men
successfully, commanders and political workers must study hard.
Lecture plans being prepared for military training should also lay
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great emphasis on the ideological education of the men. They must not
stress only military and technical aspects, just because they are training
plans. They must include not only these aspects, but also explain the
need to undergo training and annihilate the enemy.
If soldiers are to be educated properly, Party and Democratic Youth
League meetings should be well prepared and held to the purpose.
It is necessary to intensify motivation work among the soldiers.
Junior motivation workers must enhance their role, conduct brisk
motivation work in a vivid and flexible way, at shooting ranges,
training grounds and on the battlefields, and thus increase the men’s
zeal and morale.
Mass cultural work should also be conducted well among the
soldiers. Every soldier should be able to play an instrument and sing
songs. In particular, officers should be interested and take part in this
work. In the past, commanders of the Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Army
would play a flute, dance and sing together with their men during a
break. Officers should mix with their men, play instruments, dance and
sing. Then, they will be better acquainted with the life of the soldiers
and educate them more effectively.
If all the soldiers are well equipped politically and ideologically and
properly prepared in terms of military technique, they can defeat any
formidable enemy and carry out their combat mission successfully. By
perfecting your combat preparations, you should strive to enrich your
past meritorious services and turn all your companies and battalions
into Hero units.
You must be confronted with many difficulties and be lacking a
number of things since you are living under the hard conditions of the
war. Commanders and political workers should take good care of the
men as their mothers would, and help solve their problems promptly.
Commanders and political workers should have a good grasp of the
composition of their units and work with the men accordingly.
Commanders should know everything about their men: those enlisted
before the war, those having no battle experience, the native places of
the soldiers, past lives, character, constitution, etc. On this basis they
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will work with the soldiers on puipose and according to the specific
characteristics of the individuals.
Commanders and political workers must be deeply concerned for
the health of their men at all times. Commanders should look after
them lest they should fall ill. If there is a sick man, they should call on
him and inquire about his illness feeling his head and take necessary
measures. They should also pay profound attention to the meals of the
soldiers. They should provide them with a sufficient amount of
non-staple food by getting in touch with local government
bodies.
Officers should be concerned about the day-to-day life of their men.
Some comrades are still in old uniforms, which they wore behind
enemy lines. The soldiers should be issued new uniforms and shoes.
They must always be neatly dressed, sew a button on promptly if it
comes off, and have clean collars on all the time. They should build the
bathhouse, take a bath regularly and wash their clothes often. They
must not be allowed to live in a slovenly fashion because they are at
war. The People’s Army is the revolutionary army of the working
class, the most progressive and cultured of all classes. Under any
circumstances they should be neat, tidy and hygienic, as befitting
soldiers of such a revolutionary army.
In future, you should not stay in the villages, but build and live in
dugout-style barracks on the hillside. This will be convenient for you
for camouflage and fighting purposes when enemy planes attack you.
Besides, the soldiers will be able to live a disciplined life there, as
prescribed by the regulations and manuals; it is also good for training
and will relieve the population of their burden. Even under the difficult
circumstances during the anti-Japanese armed struggle, after the day’s
march we used to pitch tents to sleep in, in order to avoid causing the
people any trouble. You must follow such examples.
Commanders and political workers should skilfully undertake the
work related to the population of the area where they are stationed.
They should know well the composition of the inhabitants the size
of the population, the number of Party members, the number of people
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with checkered backgrounds and the mentality of the inhabitants.
Then, they can conduct political work to suit the actual situation and
actively help the people, maintaining close ties with them.
If you are to strengthen your ties with the people, it is important to
work closely with the organs of people’s power in the areas where you
stay. While working behind enemy lines you rescued a lot of patriots
and restored the organs of people’s power. This is very good. It has a
great political bearing, too. In the past, the anti-Japanese guerrilla
commanders performed political work efficiently. They were able
commanders while fighting the enemy, and competent political
workers when working with people in outlying areas. All commanders
of the People’s Army should be able to conduct political work as well
as work with the organs of people’s power.
The combat mission assigned to you is highly important. You hit
the US imperialist aggressors bravely, advancing down to the Raktong
River and fought well also behind enemy lines. This is why the
Supreme Headquarters entrusted you with such an important combat
mission and placed your unit here.
I am firmly convinced that you will justify the deep trust and
expectations of the Party Central Committee and the Supreme
Headquarters by successfully carrying out the honourable combat
mission assigned to your unit.
297
ON STRENGTHENING PARTY LIFE
IN THE PEOPLE’S ARMY
Speech Delivered at the Second Meeting of Party Activists
of the General Staff of the Supreme Headquarters
of the Korean People’s Army
March 18, 1951
The first impression I received here today at the meeting of Party
activists of the General Staff is that much progress has been made in
your Party life. 1 think the report and your criticisms were all correct.
Over long centuries Koreans had been affected by the morality of
Confucius and Mencius. The morality of Confucius preaches that it is
wrong to criticize others. Influenced by this thinking in the past, quite a
few people did not try to see others’ shortcomings or, when aware of
them, were reluctant to expose or criticize them.
In fact, Confucian morality which, preached by Confucius and
Mencius, forbids people to criticize others, suited the feudal autocracy
of the Ri dynasty that lasted for 500 years. In order to maintain their
old ruling system the feudal rulers of this dynasty had no desire to
develop society and feared the exposure of their corrupt feudal reign.
With a view to hindering social progress, they were engrossed in
concealing wrongs and preventing the people from being awakened.
The old habit of fearing the exposure and criticism of mistakes still
remains today.
In order to make progress and create the new it is essential to
criticize the old and wrong. Only by criticizing things old and corrupt
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can we step up the advancement of society. Therefore, ever since its
foundation our Party has stressed the need to intensify criticism and
self-criticism as a weapon to promote advancement.
Before the war there were no Party organizations in the army except
in the military academies and some army units. Due to the lack of Party
organizations criticism had not been carried out properly in the army.
During the retreat we formed Party organizations throughout the
army. The Party Central Committee regarded it as absolutely necessary
to form Party organizations in the army and increase their role in
attaining the final victory in the war and put this into effect without delay.
It is not long since Party organizations were formed in the army, but
from your fra nk criticism I consider that much progress has been made
in your organized life. However, criticism is still insufficient and grave
defects are not yet rectified.
From now on we should decisively tighten Party life in the People’s
Army.
First, the Party spirit of Party members in the army should be
heightened.
A party is an organization in which people with the same interests
and ideology are rallied to attain the same goal. It has its programme
and rules. Since it is a militant force formed not by an individual but
with the participation of large numbers of people, each of its members
should submit to its programme and rules and act unanimously in
accordance with them.
Our Party admits only those who adhere to the ideology clearly
explained in its Programme. We do not enrol anyone at random into
the Party: we admit only those who accept the Party Programme and
Rules and want to strive to carry out the Party’s lines and policies.
What, then, does it mean to have a strong Party spirit? You cannot
have it merely because you always visit Party officials or mouth the
words the “Party” and the “Party Central Committee”.
By the Party spirit we mean the Party member’s revolutionary spirit
arming himself firmly with the ideology set out in the Party
Programme, vigorously defending and fulfilling its lines and policies
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and always being in step with the Party. You cannot have a strong
Party spirit simply by earning a Party membership card with you. A
Party member must carry into effect the Party Programme and abide by
its Rules and act in strict accordance with its lines.
In order to carry through the Party’s lines it is imperative to
correctly grasp the intentions of the Party Central Committee, have a
good understanding of the Party’s policies, tactics and strategy, and
strengthen Party life.
At present some Party members in the army lack a strong Party
spirit because they joined the Party comparatively recently and have
not led a Party life since being enlisted in the army. Wrong tendencies
have been manifested by some Party members in the army because of
their weak Party spirit.
The Party meeting is one of the important media to educate Party
members. However, according to information furnished some time ago
by the General Political Bureau of the People’s Army, many Party
members, especially those with higher ranks, still fail to take an active
part in Party meetings.
Only by attending Party meetings can the Party member acquaint
himself in detail with the Party’s policies and carry them into effect. If
he does not attend Party meetings he cannot understand or fulfil the
Party’s policies. When the Party member neglects Party meetings, it is
tantamount to losing his qualification for Party membership.
There is no higher or lower Party member. Both a commander and a
soldier are equal Party members. However, as soon as they become
high- ranking officers, some people often behave in a way unbecoming
to Workers’ Party members, imagining that they are greatest men in
the world.
We must gravely warn some officers against their warlordism and
dissipated way of life. Officers who do not lead a healthy Party life
resort to warlordism, drinking and dissipation and work their soldiers
hard. Since they are people who fight against feudalism and capitalism,
they should not behave in this way.
At the recent Third Plenary Meeting of the Party Central
300
Committee a comrade said the army was getting stronger because
Party organizations had been formed in the army. However, their
formation alone cannot solve all problems
The point is, after the formation of Party organizations we must
consolidate and develop them, intensify the Party life of the
membership, arm them with the Party’s ideas, and rally them around its
Central Committee as firmly as a rock.
Unless Party life is intensified, it will be impossible to temper the
membership’s Party spirit.
Only when Party members think and act in unanimity as required
by the Party Central Committee, strictly abide by Party discipline and
discharge their duties without fail, will warlordism and dissipation be
eliminated from the army.
The enemy has reduced our country to ashes, robbed many of our
people of their precious lives and insulted our women. When the ice
and snow melt and stream down the rivers and brooks, it will not be a
mere thaw but the very blood shed by our parents, brothers and sisters.
How can we tolerate this and lead a loose and profligate life? Our
People’s Army is an army of the people and an armed force of the
Workers’ Party.
In order to repulse the enemy and save the country and people, our
Party must be further strengthened, so every member should first and
foremost raise his Party spirit ever higher. It is the primary task of our
Party members to heighten this Party spirit.
The General Political Bureau must take active measures to temper
the Party members’ Party spirit and exert every effort to intensify
political work in the People’s Army. It is also necessary to issue many
treatises on increasing the Party spirit.
Second, Marxist-Leninist education must be intensified in the army
and the servicemen armed firmly with the conviction of victory.
All members of the Workers’ Party must fight, equipped with the
same ideology and conviction. For the Party to become a revolutionary
and militant party, it must first of all achieve ideological unity and
cohesion. There is an old saying: “When the family lives in harmony,
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everything goes well.” If the mother and the daughter-in-law quarrel,
their domestic affairs can never go well.
Marxism-Leninism is an ideological weapon for the entire Party to
heat off the hostile forces and advance forward in unity. All the
members must make active efforts to arm themselves firmly with
Marxist-Leninist ideology, preserve the Party’s ideological purity and
cement its unity.
Comrades, we are fully capable of driving out the US imperialists
who invaded our country. It is a conclusion we have come to on a
profound analysis of the balance of forces between friend and foe.
The enemy has been raving for a long time to reinforce his armed
forces of aggression. As to their air force alone, the US imperialists
have spent scores of years on building it up.
We could not take so long to prepare our air force. If only we have
pilots right now, we can solve the problem. We can receive aircraft
from the fraternal countries which aid us. There is no reason why we
cannot acquire the same skills as the US imperialist blackguards. We
can do if we get down to learning them.
Needless to say, the enemy’s armed forces are superior in
technological equipment. But the fate of a war is not decided by that
alone. We have a more powerful weapon, the indomitable patriotic
spirit of defending the country to the last drop of blood.
Our people have experienced more than enough the sorrow of a
stateless people. Our people are well aware that if they are deprived of
their country they will become colonial slaves. Therefore, they fear no
sacrifice to defend their country. However, the enemies are
mercenaries who have come to the front to earn money, so they are
afraid of death. We can master technology but the enemy cannot
acquire the patriotism we have. This is a fundamental factor which
enables us to prevail over the enemy.
But we must not merely shout cheers because there is a possibility
of victory. A staunch struggle is necessary to win it. Not just a few, but
all our Workers’ Party members and all other people must be drawn in
this struggle.
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Marxism-Leninism teaches the unvarying truth that imperialism
will fall inevitably and that socialism will surely triumph. The more
thoroughly we arm ourselves with the Marxist-Leninist ideology, the
more invincible our might will become.
Those who are not armed with Marxism-Leninism do not think as we
do. They know only the mightiness of atomic or hydrogen bombs; they
do not understand that Marxist-Leninist ideology, the guiding compass
of our action, is an ever-victorious weapon stronger than any bombs.
When we started the anti-Japanese armed struggle, some comrades
imagined they would win victory if they fought Japanese imperialism
for a couple of years. Of course, this was not the case. The
anti-Japanese guerrillas, however, had fought, deeply convinced that
Japanese imperialism was doomed and that they would win. Only
when one believes implicitly in victory, can one be sure of prevailing
over any enemy.
It is because of this ideology and conviction that the anti-Japanese
guerrillas finally triumphed in the fifteen-year-long bloody struggle in
spite of all hardships.
At that time the Japanese imperialists spread leaflets against the
anti- Japanese guerrillas, one of which read: “You are like a drop in the
ocean, so you had better surrender.” Seeing this, some of the guerrillas
whose political consciousness was weak ran away. But the
overwhelming majority of our comrades armed firmly with
Marxism-Leninism did not waver in the least and fought to the last
with the strong conviction that Japanese imperialism would inevitably
meet its doom and that the Korean people would finally defeat it.
While waging a revolutionary struggle in the dark years when the
Japanese imperialists completely occupied and overran our country,
we never lost our firm faith in victory even for a moment. So, it is
impossible to have even a single man fighting in the favourable
situation of today waver without faith in victory.
Today we have one million members in the Workers’ Party,
hundreds of thousands of soldiers and a people educated and tempered
for five years since liberation.
303
Some time ago I had a talk with peasants in a farm village in
Kangso County, and among them was an 81-year-old man. I said to
him: “In your days people would get killed without resistance when the
enemy invaded, but the people of today do not die in vain. In your time
you didn’t fight staunchly against foreign invaders, so you had a hard
time of it and, ‘thanks to you’, we had hardships, too. If we die for
nothing without fighting, our sons and daughters and even grandsons
will also have to have hardships. That’s why our young people are
fighting today at the risk of their lives.”
Comrades, Marxism-Leninism is not a worn-out concept. Some
people claim that the principles of Marxism-Leninism, our ideological
weapon, are obsolete and that there is nothing new in them now. Then,
can we say the Communist Manifesto is outdated? We cannot say so. It
is not outworn but is alive and fresh. As the days go by the correctness
of Marxism-Leninism is all the more clearly proved, and it will remain
new for ever.
In order to steel our People’s Army politically and ideologically it
is essential to intensify your study of Marxism-Leninism. On the
pretext of intensifying your study, you should not try to learn by heart
just a few passages from the classics, the way old scholars used to
quote what “Confucius says” or “Mencius says”. Nor should you
mechanically copy other parties’ experience. It is meaningless to study
that way. You must study Marxist-Leninist principles and the fraternal
parties’ experience in conjunction with specific revolutionary practice
in our country and apply them creatively to Korea’s realities.
Certain comrades always carry books, claiming that they are
studying Marxism-Leninism. And some high-ranking officers have
their adjutants carry the Communist Manifesto for them. When asked
questions, they say, “Adjutant, bring my book” and thumb through the
book. The point lies not in carrying Marxist-Leninist literature like
dictionaries, but in grasping the essence and knowing how to apply it
creatively in practice.
Just as a knife can be used in different ways, so Marxism-Leninism
can be applied differently in different nations. We must make a
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profound study and grasp the truth of Marxism-Leninism and apply it
creatively to our realities.
Third, the officials’ style of work must be corrected.
Bureaucracy and formalism obstruct the solution of all problems.
The General Staff is now entrusted with a highly important mission
in the life-and-death struggle to decide the Korean people’s destiny.
Whether or not the Koreans will become a people without a country
again depends primarily on you.
In order to fulfil this weighty mission, you must eliminate bureaucracy
and formalism once and for all and work like servants of the people.
You should not try to solve all problems in the easy way, through
commands only; before issuing commands, you should first grasp and
analyse the given situation in detail and carefully weigh up whether or
not there are possibilities and conditions for carrying them out, and
take prudent organizational measures. You should check and control
the correct carrying out of the commands and be prepared to hold
yourselves entirely responsible for their outcome.
The Ordnance Bureau ordered shells to be dispatched to the
frontline units within a definite period, on the plea of preparing for the
fourth campaign. As we asked them why only shells when the guns
were not being used effectively for lack of vehicles to tow them, they
retorted that the shells would have to be sent anyhow and used sooner
or later. But the actual situation there needs machine guns and bullets
more badly than shells. Regarded from a favourable viewpoint, it is
bureaucracy and, regarded negatively, it is harmful.
Now, let us see how the Communications Control Bureau has
been working. These days newspapers do not get to the front
regularly. When I asked the reason, they said it was due to the lack of
vehicles. They said so when they had ten vehicles, as I have found
out. We provided them with another 30 vehicles and made an
inquiry. This time they replied that they had vehicles but were out of
gasoline. So I asked the chief of staff of the General Commissarial
Bureau why he had not supplied them with gasoline. And he replied
that nobody had asked for it.
305
This insincere and formalistic style of work is manifested in the
General Staff as an extremely dangerous phenomenon.
Several days ago we assigned the Bureau of Operations the task of
sending a vehicle for a certain cadre coming from the south. The
bureau ordered a unit without a car to fulfil the task. The unit explained
that it had not been able to go because there was no car, whereas the
bureau only reprimanded the unit for its failure to carry out the order.
Meanwhile, time glided on and we ourselves had to send a car to pick
him up. They are smooth operators, indeed. They seem to think that
they will not be court-martialled because they had issued an order. You
should not only issue orders but should guarantee conditions for their
punctual fulfilment.
In all bureaus and spheres there still exists a tendency to work in a
formalistic manner. We are doing our own work, the Party’s work; and
not the work of others. We are working now to destroy and annihilate
the US imperialists as soon as possible. So one should be anxious when
something goes wrong. Only a Party member like this can be said to
have the Party spirit.
Next, I would like to touch briefly on the remarks made by a certain
bureau chief in the debate-that he would keep in close contact with the
Party. This expression is incorrect. He seems to think the bureau is
independent of the Party. He is wrong. Since the bureau chief is a Party
member, his work, though administrative, is, after all, entrusted to him
by the Party. We do not think that we only work for the Cabinet when
working at the Cabinet offices and that we do Party work only when
working at the offices of the Party Central Committee. A Party
member should clearly realize that all his work is assigned to him by
the Party and is work for the Party. Faithfully carrying out his
assignments means precisely being loyal to the Party.
Party organizations in the army should politically ensure the correct
execution of the commanders’ orders. Cell or Party committee
chairmen should always be well acquainted with what their
commanders plan and organize, and should work in the same direction.
It is wrong if a Party organization chairman holds an amusement
306
gathering when the commander plans to make an assault on the hill
ahead. He should be aware of the military tasks of his unit, and if he
doesn’t, he should ask so as to get informed of them without fail. Only
then can he guarantee their political fulfilment.
At this Party activists’ meeting I have stressed a number of points in
order to further enhance the Party spirit of Party members; to struggle
uncompromisingly against all negative practices, advance staunchly in
the direction indicated by the Party Central Committee and constantly
rectify a wrong of work.
As I stated some time ago before comrades of the People’s Army
and the Chinese People’s Volunteers and also at a meeting of heads of
the political departments of the combined units, our Party is now
confronted with the important task of making full preparations for the
ultimate victory in the war, while consolidating the victory already
achieved.
Local Party organizations should strengthen the people’s power,
make spring sowing a success, have factories rebuilt and large
quantities of goods produced to stabilize the people’s life. The
People’s Army must defend the areas already liberated, never yielding
an inch to the enemy, and increase its units’ combat capacity still more.
This is precisely the way to consolidate the victory already won; it is
preparatory to our general offensive, preparatory to our final victory.
The Artillery Headquarters must strengthen the work of all
armories to supply weapons and shells in time where necessary; the
Medical Bureau must fully meet the requirements for medicines,
doctors and nurses; the Bureau of Organization, Mobilization and
Replenishment must make preparations to quickly fill the shortage of
combatants in the frontline divisions; the General Commissarial
Bureau must replace the uniforms of the soldiers with the new ones in
good time and transport rice to the vicinity of the 38th Parallel.
Only when these preparations are made satisfactorily in all spheres
will we be able to achieve final victory in the Fatherland Liberation
War.
307
ON IMPROVING THE WORK OF THE EDITORIAL
DEPARTMENT OF THE MAGAZINE
MILITARY KNOWLEDGE
Instruction to the Chief of the General Staff of the Supreme
Headquarters of the Korean People’s Army
April 26, 1951
In order to annihilate the US imperialist aggressors at an earliest
date and win the Fatherland Liberation War, we must increase the
fighting efficiency of the People’s Army.
The magazine Military’ Knowledge has a very important mission to
discharge in increasing the combat efficiency of the People’s Army. It
must play its part in equipping officers firmly with our Party’s
ideology, advanced military science and technology, and in raising
their quality of leadership. In particular, in the war situation as it is
today it should play the role of close helper in correcting the
shortcomings revealed in battle command and coordination between
units.
This magazine, however, has so far failed to perform its important
mission properly. According to the inspection report of the General
Staff, the errors committed by its editorial department are very serious.
One of these errors is that the editorial department published many
treatises and diagrams contrary to our Party’s military policy and army
regulations, and contradictory to military theory. Theses and charts
carried in this magazine should be based thoroughly on the Party’s
military policy and justifiable from the viewpoint of military theory.
308
Only then, can the magazine play the proper role of a true propagator
and educator that disseminates and teaches our Party’s military
thought, advanced military science and theory, and military
technology. Nevertheless the editorial department has failed to
perform its mission satisfactorily by publishing treatises and material
which were contrary to our Party’s military policy and army
regulations and untenable from the viewpoint of military theory
Another mistake of the editorial department is that it did not give
adequate space to articles and other political-educational material to
explain and disseminate our Party’s line and policy. It has given too
little space to articles explaining our Party’s line and policy and to
educational material encouraging soldiers to mass heroism, and also
neglected the explanation and dissemination of military regulations
and manuals.
Still another error is that it has not edited different materials on
military science and theory, combat experience and the like in time and
in a planned way. The delayed and unplanned publication of military
and political theses and educational material indispensable to raising
officers’ military technical levels and improving their quality of
leadership made the magazine ineffective in helping them to increase
their military, political and practical qualifications and their abilities to
command.
There are many other defects in the work of the editorial
department, but I will not touch on them, since they are all pointed out
correctly in the inspection report of the General Staff.
What, then, are the main reasons for the errors committed by the
editorial department?
The mistakes are due, first of all, to the failure of the General Staff
to give regular guidance to and check up on the work of the editorial
department. It has not given regular guidance and assistance to the
department to carry out its duty with credit nor has it inspected and
controlled the editorial work properly. The department has been
working as it pleased, completely free from guidance and control since
its formation.
309
The mistakes are due also to the inadequate political and military
knowledge of the staff and their lack of the sense of Party
responsibility. Many of them are not well qualified politically,
ideologically and in military technique nor are they experienced in
editing magazines. So it was impossible for the magazine to carry good
military and political theses and educational material. They also lacked
Party responsibility to perform their duties in good faith. If they had
been competent militarily and politically and had a high sense of Party
responsibility to be faithful to their duties, they would not have
committed such errors.
Another major reason for the editorial department’s mistakes lies
in their inadequate effort to increase the number of zealous
contributors and enlist the opinions of the readers widely. The
magazine will be able to carry good material when it enlists in its
editorial work the generals and other officers, who are competent
politically and militarily and have a wealth of combat experience, and
when it obtains active assistance from its readers. The editorial
department, however, neglected to develop active contributors and
establish contact with readers. That was why the magazine failed to
carry excellent military and political treatises and educational
material. Because of such poor contents, generals and officers were
reluctant to read the magazine to raise their own military, political
and practical levels nor did they use it effectively in educating their
men. The readers on their part were not interested in helping to
correct the shortcomings in its editorial work and were quite
indifferent to its destiny. The editorial department, therefore, could
not receive good suggestions from the readers.
The General Staff should see to it that the editorial department of
the Military? Knowledge corrects its mistakes as quickly as possible and
that the magazine acquits itself of its duty satisfactorily.
Before all else, the editorial department must be staffed well and its
role enhanced. It must consist of officers who are boundlessly loyal to
the Party, highly competent politically and theoretically, well qualified
in military practice, and experienced in war. Improvement in the
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makeup of staff should be combined with tireless efforts on their part to
equip themselves firmly with our Party’s ideology and Marxist-Leninist
ideas and master modem military science, theory and technology.
Next, the ra nks of enthusiastic contributors should be increased.
This is the way to obtain a variety of war experiences and other
material sufficiently when needed. From now on the number of active
writers must increase and they must be encouraged to contribute many
articles.
Next, the contents of the magazine should be improved.
The editorial department should, first of ail, make up the magazine
with material which would explain and disseminate the Workers’
Party’s line and policy to officers, inculcate in them boundless loyalty
to the Party, fervent love of their country and people, burning hatred
for the enemy and confidence in victory. In the future, the magazine
should carry many articles and write-ups explaining and propagating
our Party’s line and policy. At the same time, it should give
information on the Heroes of the Republic who displayed indomitable
revolutionary spirit and mass heroism in the just Fatherland Liberation
War for the freedom and independence of the country and also material
on revolutionary comradeship.
The magazine should also devote much space to the material
needed in enhancing the role of commanders and staffs. To win the
Fatherland Liberation War ultimately, we must fully equip all our
officers with advanced military science and technology and improve
the quality of leadership of commanders. That is why much space
should be given to articles for the dissemination of advanced military
science and technology and improvement of the role of staffs and the
quality of commanders’ leadership.
The magazine should carry many combat experiences in particular.
At present the People’s Army is accumulating valuable experience
every day and every minute in the life-and-death struggle against the
US imperialist aggressors. The magazine should disseminate this
experience widely among the officers. It would be advisable that wide
publicity is given to the experiences of mountain battles, night actions,
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raids, flanking movement and encirclement by which the enemy was
destroyed.
The magazine should introduce foreign battle experience as well.
It should also give much information on the enemy. Without
knowing the enemy we cannot wipe him out. It should deal with
information on his military organizations and equipment as well as the
weaknesses in the tactics, weapons and other equipment of the US
imperialist forces of aggression.
The magazine should also introduce much information needed in
establishing iron discipline in the People’s Army. The People’s Army
needs iron discipline. An undisciplined army cannot defeat the enemy.
Only a well disciplined army can beat the enemy however difficult the
battle. What is important in tightening discipline in the People’s Army
is to encourage the soldiers to observe it voluntarily. The magazine
should carry many articles explaining army regulations and manuals,
so that every officer acts according to them.
In order to improve the contents, the editorial department should
work well with the readers. They can be active assistants to and critics
on the editorial work of the magazine. If it has close relations with the
readers, it can understand their demand in time and get good
suggestions and help from them.
Guidance to the editorial department in its work should be
strengthened to increase its role. Steps to correct its errors should be
discussed at the meeting of officers of the General Staff and the
General Political Bureau. In addition, a non-permanent editorial
committee of high-ranking officers who are qualified politically and
ideologically, and in military technique, should be appointed to give
regular guidance, scrutiny and assistance to the editorial work.
The organizational structure of the editorial department, too, should
be examined. It is no easy job to edit a magazine during a war. After
proper examination, the editorial department should be reorganized to
suit the wartime conditions.
It would be a good idea for the next issue of the Military Knowledge
to carry a critical article on the shortcomings in the editorial
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department’s work. This will be an honest self-criticism. Such an
article will not estrange the editorial department from the readers.
Instead, it will win their deep trust and love. Communists are not afraid
of making their shortcomings public. It is a good thing to be criticized
and controlled publicly. The magazine should carry not only the
criticism of its editorial work but also an article about the future
editorial orientation of the Military? Knowledge.
The Party expects a great deal from the journal. The editorial staff
should keep this in mind and carry out their revolutionary task
faithfully so that the magazine makes a great contribution to winning
the Fatherland Liberation War.
313
ENHANCE THE COMBAT EFFICIENCY
OF THE UNIT AND MAKE OUR COASTAL
DEFENCE IMPREGNABLE
Speech to the Officers and Men of Unit 851
of the Korean People’s Army
April 28, 1951
On behalf of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of
Korea, the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
and the Supreme Headquarters of the Korean People’s Army, I would
like to express warm thanks to all officers, noncommissioned officers
and men of Unit 851 of the Korean People’s Army for their long
arduous struggle behind enemy lines, under most difficult conditions.
Unit 851 advanced as far down as the Raktong River, scored
tremendous victories in battle, and made a successful strategic retreat
by breaking through manifold enemy lines in the period of temporary
retirement. The unit was also the first to dash into Pyongyang, the
democratic capital, in the light for its liberation.
Your battle exploits will mark a brilliant page in the history of the
struggle to liberate the country.
Today we are fighting US imperialism, the self-styled strongest in
the world. The US imperialists are our vicious enemy who are trying to
turn back human history and stamp out our country and nation once
and for all, repeating Hitler’s dream of world domination.
In view of her location in the Far East, Korea can be likened to a
bridge to the continent. In the past, the Japanese imperialists occupied
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Korea and then, using her as a bridge, invaded China and made the
same attempt on the Soviet Union. After World War II, the US
imperialists took the place of the Japanese imperialists and invaded
Korea, and are scheming to invade China and the Soviet Union at some
time in the future. Their pipe dream is doomed to failure, just as fascist
Germany, Japan and Italy who dreamt of world conquest, were
vanquished in World War II. History shows that wild dreamers of
world conquest will collapse without exception.
Forgetting past historical lessons, the US imperialists are rearming
Germany and Japan in gross violation of the Potsdam Agreements and
other international pacts. They have also armed the reactionary
Syngman Rhee clique and encouraged them to initiate frequent
invasions on the northern half of Korea, with the evil design of turning
Korea into their colony. Finally in June last year, by instigating the
traitorous Syngman Rhee clique, the US imperialist aggressors
launched a surprise invasion of the northern half of Korea and
unleashed an aggressive war in Korea.
Our People’s Army, alert to cope with the enemy attempt, repelled
the invaders at once and launched a counteroffensive. Three days after
the outbreak of the war, the People’s Army liberated Seoul, the citadel
of the Syngman Rhee puppet clique. Alarmed at the defeat of the
puppet clique by the counterattacking People’s Army, the US
imperialists openly started their invasion on our country.
The US imperialists are the most outrageous aggressors who are
trying to swallow up the whole world. They have aggressive armed
forces long trained and superior in equipment and technique. They lost
nothing but earned, instead, large sums of money in the First and Second
World Wars. In Korea, however, they lost over 100,000 troops during
the first several months of the war, in their futile attempt to attain their
aim of aggression. They are still losing one battle after another.
Why, then, are the US imperialists suffering such defeat in the
Korean war?
First, this is because the Korean people today are not what they
were yesterday.
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When the Japanese imperialists invaded Korea, its feudal rulers,
who were corrupt, incompetent, and blind to the world situation, were
idling away their time, riding about on donkeys in horse-hair hats. This
resulted in our country being conquered by the Japanese imperialists,
and our people were forced to live in slavery, suffering bitter grief and
pain as a homeless nation for 36 years. From this torturous experience
our people refuse to become homeless again and refuse to yield their
country meekly to any aggressors.
In the five post-liberation years, the Korean people, under the
leadership of our Party, set up the Democratic People’s Republic, their
genuine state power, ran factories, built schools and developed
agriculture through their own efforts. In the past five years of
democratic construction, our people created a happy new life, indeed,
on their own, and grew strong enough to defend it. They are now very
strong and unconquerable.
For the defence of the freedom of their country and their new life,
the Korean people are now going all out in the Fatherland Liberation
War against the US imperialist invasion.
No matter how many troops and airplanes they have and no matter
how superior they are technically, the United States will never be able
to conquer our people who have risen as one in this just cause. Our
people are firmly resolved to fight the enemy in defence of the country,
even if it would mean a devastated Korea and national martyrdom. If
the US imperialist aggressor forces refuse to withdraw from Korea, we
shall fight to the end, whether it be for one year or two years or longer,
until we destroy them to the last man, until we ultimately win the war.
Today, the Korean people are playing a major role in the struggle
against imperialism and for peace, and their heroic struggle against the
aggressors greatly inspires the world’s oppressed people in their
national-liberation movements. This is a great honour for our people
and our People’s Army.
What, then, are the factors which contribute to our victory?
First, we have the Workers’ Party of Korea which accurately
estimates the balance of forces between friends and foes and leads our
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people correctly to victory. We have the people who are closely united
around the Party and the Government of the Republic. We have the
heroic People’s Army made up of the sons and daughters of the
workers and peasants.
This is the basic guarantee for our might, the basic factor for our
victory.
The People’s Army has grown both in numerical strength and
quality in the struggle against the US imperialist aggressors. Formerly
it was no more than an armed force of several divisions, but today it
has several corps scores of divisions. In the past it was trained mainly
in war games, but now it is being tempered in real battles: it is now
experienced in offensive and defensive battles and in the temporary
retreat and is also skilful in guerrilla warfare.
The People’s Army also fully displays lofty political and moral
traits in battles.
Our army is incomparably superior in ideology to the US
imperialist aggressor forces. It is an army of the people, which is firmly
equipped with patriotism and fights in defence of the country and the
people. But the US imperialist aggressor troops are hired soldiers who
invade other countries for money. They are devastating and burning
down the factories, villages, schools, and everything else which have
been built by the sweat of our people’s brow.
All our soldiers are now fighting with a burning hatred for the
enemy and a firm determination to wipe them out. Precisely for this
reason the People’s Army soldiers are brave in battles.
Second, we are not fighting alone; we are receiving active support
and encouragement from peace-loving people the world over.
Our people are fighting for a just cause; they are firm in their cause
and capable of winning it. We are guided by the correct lines and
policies of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the Government of the
Republic. We have the people and the People’s Army with an
indomitable fighting spirit. For this reason the peoples of the Soviet
Union, China and many other People’s Democracies and other
peace-loving people all over the world ardently support our people in
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their just cause and encourage them actively in their valiant struggle.
It is inevitable that the US imperialists will be defeated in the
Korean war and that we will emerge victorious. The US imperialist
aggressors will never realize their aggressive ambition no matter how
frantically they build up arms and no matter how many troops of their
satellite states they send to the Korean front.
The US imperialists miscalculated at the outset. They failed to see
revolutionary spirit and courage of the Korean people. They were
foolish enough to believe that with one stroke they would be able to
bring our people to their knees easily. They did not consider the fact
that the Korean people were led by the Workers’ Party of Korea and
tempered in the struggle.
The US imperialists were also blind to the united force of the
Korean and Chinese peoples. The Korean and Chinese peoples are
comrades-in-arms, who have fought together against their common
enemy, from the period of the anti-Japanese armed struggle. For their
blindness to this united force, the US imperialists were reckless enough
to attack us.
Now they would not take their hands off Korea, even if they wished
to, because it would mean losing face.
The Fatherland Liberation War of our people will not end soon
because we are engaged in a conflict with US imperialism, the
chieftain of world imperialism. If we were fighting just the Syngman
Rhee puppet army, we would have completely defeated them a long
time ago. We must anticipate a protracted war since we are fighting
against the US imperialists.
Today, the situation is definitely in our favour. There are sufficient
objective and subjective conditions which will enable us to win.
Despite this, the enemy will not perish, unless he is destroyed. Victory
will not come of itself, but must be won through struggle. We must
fight larger battles in the future.
In order to wipe out the US imperialist aggressors and win ultimate
victory, we must consolidate the People’s Army still further.
Our immediate task is to consolidate the victory already achieved
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and at the same time increase the combat efficiency of the People’s
Army units and get them fully ready for combat.
We must, above all, improve military equipment and establish a
strict system and order in the units and promote the management of the
units, political work and all other activities of the People’s Army, on a
regular basis.
In developing the People’s Army into a better-trained regular army
and in making its units perfectly combat ready, we must always
proceed from the specific conditions of our country and solve all
problems according to these conditions. We must not try to imitate a
foreign army merely to improve ours on a regular basis. We must draft
new military regulations conforming to our conditions and apply the
existing ones to suit our realities.
Our country is mountainous. This means that we have to fight
mostly in the mountains. Therefore, in drawing up the artillery
structure of the army, for instance, priority should be given to
high-angle fire rather than to direct fire. Besides, an effective use of
mortars is important in our country. Tactical problems, too, should be
handled in such a way as to acquire the tactics of mountain warfare and
night action. This is also important.
Our country is a peninsula with a long coastline on three sides. This
makes it imperative to defend the coast solidly.
For a strong coastal defence, we must build a powerful navy.
Taking advantage of our lacking a powerful navy, the US
imperialist aggressors marshalled their strong forces and landed at
Inchon. That is why the People’s Army units, which had advanced as
far as the Raktong River line, had to make a temporary strategic
retreat. Only when the home front is solid, can our achievements be
defended, and the soldiers at the battle front can fight well, free from
any worries about home. Therefore, one of the most important
strategic tasks confronting us today is to firmly defend the major
coastal areas in the rear in order to prevent the enemy from isolating
our home front.
Unit 851 of the Korean People’s Army must ensure an impregnable
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coastal defence by further increasing their combat efficiency.
What, then, must this unit do to cope with its combat mission?
First, the unit should replenish itself as soon as possible by getting
full complement of troops and weapons, and should deploy its forces
properly in accordance with its mission and to suit the terrain features.
It should thus become an elite as quickly as possible-a unit which is
fully combat ready.
Second, it must intensify military training and political education.
Combat training should be intensified. Through intensive combat
training every soldier must improve his marksmanship and adequately
learn the methods of assault, night action, encirclement, outflanking,
counterattack and so on, by making the most of his training hours.
Officers should teach their men to master their weapons and take good
care of them. In particular, a great deal of attention should be directed
to the education of recruits.
Combat training should be geared to the need of actual warfare and
oriented to digesting valuable experience. Training should be
conducted in the field, building up positions. This is the way to
familiarize the soldiers better with the terrain conditions and enable
them to destroy the enemy promptly, even when they launch a surprise
attack.
Political education should be intensified among soldiers, in order to
heighten their fighting spirit and inspire them with a firmer confidence
in victory.
When we were waging the anti-Japanese armed struggle in the past,
we did not have so many men and powerful weapons as we have today.
Nevertheless, convinced of the immutable truth that imperialism will
perish, we conducted ideological education properly for the soldiers.
Because they had a firm faith in victory, the anti-Japanese guerrillas
were able to fight on bravely, overcoming all difficulties, and at last
liberated the country.
The conditions today are incomparably better in every respect than
those in the years of our anti-Japanese armed struggle.
As a result of World War I, the Soviet Union, the socialist state, was
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bom out of the mins of tsarist Russia. In World War II, fascist
Germany and Italy and the Japanese imperialists were defeated, and in
consequence, the People’s Democracies emerged in Europe and Asia.
If the imperialists unleash a third world war it will mean digging
graves for all capitalist countries on earth
Every soldier should firmly believe that the US imperialists will be
defeated in the Korean war and that the Korean people will triumph.
For fighting soldiers, confidence in victory is more valuable than
weapons and ammunition.
The unit should intensify political education among the officers,
noncommissioned officers and men and instil in them greater
confidence in victory and increased hatred for the enemy. They should
be educated thoroughly, in particular, to keep in mind the crimes of the
US imperialists at all times, and to curse and hate the enemy bitterly.
Third, the unit should be managed properly, and the work style of
the officers improved.
If the unit is to be run efficiently, commanding officers should
acquire the art of correct leadership. They should treasure and love
their men as their own brothers and help the men who commit errors to
correct them promptly, by criticizing them severely. Political workers,
in particular, should persuade and educate their men patiently like a
loving mother. Every soldier should thus be encouraged to accept
criticism earnestly and observe discipline voluntarily.
Commanding officers should perform their jobs in good faith and
have a high sense of responsibility. If a commanding officer gives an
inappropriate order, he may suffer heavy casualties and unexpected
losses. All military and political cadres should, therefore, conduct
themselves in a responsible and exemplary manner at all times-both in
battle and daily routine.
Commanding officers should be deeply concerned about the daily
lives of their men.
They should pay attention, above all, to the men’s meals. Of course,
it may be somewhat difficult to always provide their men with
non-staple food according to the regulations under the wartime
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conditions. But the men should never run out of such items. At present,
some supply service workers do not organize meticulously the daily
rationing of food supplies for the men; they are working as if on a
hand-to-mouth job, eating up everything they get in one gulp and then
lasting. This is not proper.
The unit should organize sideline production properly grow
potatoes and vegetables, raise pigs and chickens and sprout beans or
make bean curds for the servicemen. You should bring marine
products by using transport rationally and supply them to supplement
non-staple food. Units should strive to obtain non-staple foodstuffs
through their own effort as far as possible.
Along with this, wasteful practices must be thoroughly eliminated.
Especially when moving, the unit should not throw away leftovers.
Medical service to the soldiers should be improved. For the present,
a large number of nurses should be trained, as it is impossible to train
army surgeons within a short period. The stretcher teams should be
reinforced according to the new table of organization.
You should pay constant attention to the hygienic and
anti-epidemic work. You should organize baths and washes frequently
and take vaccination regularly so as to prevent diseases.
Fourth, you should maintain close ties with the people in your area.
People’s Army units should help with the farm work of the people
in their areas, carry salt and the like for them in military vehicles and
help them solve other difficult problems to the best of their abilities.
They should properly explain Party policy and current events to the
people. The People’s Army should be an army of the people in the true
sense of the word-an army which not only defends the country with
arms but strives in the interests and for the happiness of the people and
helps them overcome their difficulties.
Fifth, discipline and order should be further tightened.
Iron discipline and order is the life and soul of an army and the basic
guarantee for greater combat efficiency of a unit. Wartime conditions
should never be an excuse for laxity in discipline and order. The war
requires a more rigid discipline and order and strict implementation of
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orders from superiors and state laws.
Today I am very satisfied to see you comrades in high spirits.
You should further increase the unit’s combat efficiency, build up
impregnable coastal defences and carry out your combat mission with
credit.
I hope Unit 851 of the Korean People’s Army will produce many
more Heroes and win the title of Guards Unit without fail.
Let all of you rally more firmly around our Party and the
Government of the Republic, and bravely advance towards fresh
victories!
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ON THE OCCASION OF MAY DAY
Order No. 310 of the Supreme Commander
of the Korean People’s Army
May 1, 1951
Men, noncommissioned officers, and officers of the three services
of the Korean People’s Army,
Men and women guerrillas,
Dear fellow countrymen, brothers and sisters,
Today, on the occasion of May Day when the militant force of the
working people throughout the world is tested and demonstrated, I
offer warm congratulations to you in the name of the Government of
the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Supreme
Headquarters of the Korean People’s Army.
Today our people greet May Day in the grim situation of the
Fatherland Liberation War against the US imperialist invaders.
The Korean People’s Army has undertaken national defence with the
honour of being entrusted with the destiny of the country and the people,
and it is now ten months since the outbreak of the Fatherland Liberation
War for defending the freedom and independence of the country.
In this period the Korean People’s Army has dealt heavy blows at
the American imperialist invaders and inflicted on them a tremendous
loss in troops, weapons and equipment. The US imperialists’
underhand design to enslave the Korean people and make our country
the base of their aggression on Asia is being frustrated at every step in
the war.
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The Korean People’s Army has grown stronger in the course of the
difficult war against the US imperialist aggressors and for the
reunification, independence and freedom of the country.
People’s Army units are able to use a variety of tactics efficiently
under different combat situations: they can destroy the enemy by a
flanking movement or encirclement or strike him by means of feint or
decoying. The soldiers are disciplined and capable of handling their
weapons skilfully and carrying out the combat missions given by their
commanding officers in whatever adversity. The fear of enemy’s
technical means, aircraft in particular, noticeable among some of the
soldiers in the early period of the war, has given way to their
self-confidence that they can defeat the enemy by relying on their
patriotic devotion and military skill they have acquired.
All this shows that the People’s Army has become better organized
and stronger in the course of the Fatherland Liberation War and that its
commanding officers are experienced in combat and their men
tempered.
The war found all our people united more firmly than ever before
around the Government of the Republic.
All the Korean people have joined in the struggle to supply the front
with more arms and food for victory, and the whole country is
embattled.
Friendship and solidarity with the peace-loving people of the world
has become and is growing closer with each passing day. In their
heroic struggle against the American imperialist invaders, the Korean
people are getting support and encouragement from the democratic
camp and freedom-loving people throughout the world. The Chinese
People’s Volunteers are cooperating with our People’s Army in the
war against US imperialism, the common enemy, who is out to
conquer our country and then invade the whole of Asia.
Our strength is increasing with the passing time and the situation is
developing decisively in our favour.
The US imperialist aggressors, however, find themselves in
different circumstances. Each fresh blow delivered at them by the
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heroic Korean People’s Army and the Chinese People’s Volunteers
pushes the invaders closer to their doom.
The aggressive provocation of the US imperialists against our
country and the People’s Republic of China is stirring up serious
discontent among broad sections of the American people.
The contradictions and conflicts among those who implement the
imperialist policy of aggression are sharpening further, and the
invaders are feeling more uneasy and confused. Truman, the main
culprit of aggression, revealed his gloomy outlook of the war when he
dismissed MacArthur, his favourite butcher, from the office of
Commander, US Armed Forces in the Far East.
The arrogant bluster of the invaders that they would swallow up our
country before “Christmas” last year has given way to a mournful cry
for what they call a “reexamination of their Far East policy”.
These facts show that the aggressive policy of the US imperialists is
failing in Korea and that our people are emerging victorious in their
struggle.
Our victory is of historic significance.
Our triumph is a clear proof that no imperialist armed forces can
bring to their knees the people who have stood up for the freedom and
independence of the nation.
This, however, never means that the American imperialist invaders
are completely defeated.
They have been hit hard by the heroic Korean People’s Army and
the Chinese People’s Volunteers, but not yet completely destroyed.
It would be very foolish to hope for a walkover or a victory without
effort.
If we are to win ultimately, we must deal much heavier blows at the
enemy than we have done already.
We still have an arduous struggle to carry on.
We must emerge victorious in this struggle. To this end, we must
mobilize all our forces and possibilities.
Dear men, noncommissioned officers and officers of the Korean
People’s Army,
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Men and women guerrillas who are brave,
The country and the people are expecting a great deal from you and
are deeply concerned for you. They spare nothing for the strengthening
of the People’s Army, their own armed forces.
The peoples of the Soviet Union, the People’s Republic of China
and other fraternal People’s Democracies are giving enthusiastic
support and encouragement to our people in their struggle against the
invaders.
The freedom-loving people the world over, with unbounded
sympathy and respect, are watching the heroic Korean people and their
child, the People’s Army, who are participating, arms in hand, in the
struggle for world peace.
The officers and men of the People’s Army should by all means live
up to the trust and expectations of their country and people and avenge
their parents, brothers and sisters.
We must wipe out the US imperialist invaders and thus prove
ourselves worthy of the support and encouragement from the peoples
of the Soviet Union and the People’s Democracies and the
freedom-loving people throughout the world.
We must liberate all our country from the American aggressors.
We must destroy the US aggressors to the last man since they do not
withdraw from our land of their own accord. We have no other
alternative.
We must accomplish this sacred and noble mission. For this
purpose the People’s Army soldiers must have a good command of
military affairs, master their weapons and acquire the ability to handle
skilfully the combat equipment given by their country and people.
Men, noncommissioned officers and officers of the three services
of the Korean People’s Army,
Men and women guerrillas,
Greeting May Day, I congratulate you and order:
1. Every serviceman of the Korean People’s Army, preserve the
successes in the previous battles, follow them up and strive to win the
war ultimately!
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Deliver sledgehammer blows at the US imperialist invaders in
revenge for the bloodshed they have caused to your parents, brothers
and sisters! Be more merciless and brave and force the enemy to pay
blood for blood!
2. Every infantryman, artilleryman, tankman, airman,
reconnaissance scout, engineer and aircraft-hunter of the Korean
People’s Army, master your weapons and improve your combat
efficiency tirelessly! Veterans, teach your military skill to the recruits
with warm comradeship!
Let every soldier be prompt and accurate in implementing the
commander’s order and in meeting the requirements of military
regulations and manuals and tighten the military discipline and
organization of the People’s Army!
Commanders of the units of different arms, strive further to
acquire flexible tactics and improve the art of leadership, skilfully
coordinate the actions of different arms, different units and
individual soldiers, and improve your military technique and ability
to command through the study, review and mutual exchange of
combat experience!
3. Political workers, intensify your work among the soldiers so as to
imbue them with patriotism and devotion to the country and the
people, firmer conviction of victory and a stronger hatred for the
enemy, to establish iron discipline in the army and cherish their
weapons and equipment!
4. Communications are the nerve of modem warfare. They ensure
swift and smooth command and greatly affect the outcome of battles.
Signalmen, strive to ensure swift and accurate communications!
5. All of the logistical workers, provide the front in time with
adequate weapons, ammunition, food rations and other munitions and
satisfy its requirements!
6. The doomed enemy resorts to all sorts of vile and crafty means
and manoeuvres. Detect and expose the sinister plans of the enemy
everywhere with heightened vigilance!
7. Men and women guerrillas, raid and destroy enemy command
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posts and headquarters to throw the enemy into panic and harass him
further in his rear!
The time is drawing nearer when the Korean People’s Army
together with the Chinese People’s Volunteers will destroy the
cannibalistic American imperialists to the last man.
Long live our glorious motherland!
Long live the heroic Korean People’s Army!
Long live the heroic Chinese People’s Volunteers!
Long live our valiant men and women guerrillas!
Wipe out the US imperialist invaders!
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TALK WITH A FACT-FINDING COMMISSION
FROM THE WOMEN’S INTERNATIONAL
DEMOCRATIC FEDERATION
May 27, 1951
Dear members of the commission,
You have been in our country with the noble aim of investigating on
the spot the atrocities the American aggressors are committing in
Korea, in a vicious attempt to make our country their colony, and of
determining the real nature of the Korean war. I would like to express
my heartfelt thanks to you for this.
If you inform the world public of the truth of the Korean war and
the just struggle of our people, which you have witnessed on your visit
to our country, we shall be very grateful to you.
I am convinced that your efforts in our behalf will contribute to
driving out the American imperialist aggressors from our land.
Korea is bound to be a free, independent state.
Korea cannot and will never be a colony of the American
imperialists.
I wish you a safe return home and greater success in your work.
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TALK WITH HEROES OF THE REPUBLIC
AND MODEL SOLDIERS
June 29, 1951
Comrade Heroes, thank you for coming all the way from the front
line. You are all stout soldiers.
I am very glad to hear that everyone fighting at the front is in good
health.
The congratulatory banner presented to me by Unit 327 in the name
of all its officers and men is said to have been embroidered in a trench.
Their devotion is great, indeed. The unit also sent me the pistol of
Comrade Han Kye Ryol, Hero of the Republic, and the sub-machine
gun of Comrade Kang Ho Yong, Hero of the Republic. As you know,
the former was a brave hero who initiated the “my hill” movement and
the latter was a true son of the Party and an indomitable hero who
courageously fought to the last moment of his life for the country and
the people. We should not forget these heroes for ever.
I was deeply impressed by your battle accounts.
The Reconnaissance Hero says that, encountered with a puppet
army company on his way through the enemy rear on his
reconnaissance mission, he shouted at the enemy from a vantage
point and intimidated him into surrender. That was really a bold and
successful action. Shouting is one of the important tactics to capture
the enemy. In those years of the anti-Japanese armed struggle, too,
the guerrillas often did the same and forced the enemy to surrender.
Soldiers should know how to capture the enemy not only with guns
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but by word of mouth and various other tricks.
In other words, they should be skilful in the use of flexible, elusive
tactics to suit the combat situation.
It was laudable of the Hero to have acted boldly, but that was risky.
It was fortunate that the enemy was easily intimidated to surrender by
the shouting. What would have happened, if the enemy had found a
chance to open fire in a last-ditch effort? Then, the venture might have
failed with resultant casualties to the scouts. All of you are the treasure
of the country. One of our men cannot be bartered for a hundred enemy
soldiers. When you use this tactics again in the future, you must be on
the alert and shout at the enemy.
You the Hero and Squad Leader, whose home is in the south,
infiltrated into the enemy rear on a mission to cut off the enemy’s
retreat. You paralysed enemy command first by raiding and destroying
an enemy regimental headquarters and then blocked the route of his
retreat, killing a large number of enemy troops and capturing his
weapons and equipment. You the Hero and Squad Leader were adroit
in your action. Soldiers must act boldly and cleverly at the decisive
moment. You must in the future, too, fight better than anyone else in
the forefront of the battle to liberate your parents and brothers and
home place in the south.
Comrade Hero Chief Nurse, you are said to have offered much of
your blood to be transfused to the wounded and saved them. How is
your health now? Your deed on the battlefield truly behoves a
communist. Indeed, you are a woman of great strength, for you rescued
two wounded comrades at a time, carrying them on your back or
helping them to walk through the flames of gunfire. During the period
of the anti-Japanese armed struggle, too, many women guerrillas
fought as bravely as men. Carrying forward the brilliant revolutionary
traditions of the anti-Japanese armed struggle, the women in our
country are now fighting devotedly both at the front and in the rear.
The Hero who, as a Demolition-Team Leader, destroyed many
heavy-machine gun pillboxes of the enemy and opened the way for the
advancing unit, also fulfilled his combat mission excellently by
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displaying ardent patriotism to the full. You comrades say that your
battle experience with the American imperialist aggressors confirmed
that they were mere nothing, though they had been considered
otherwise. That is correct. They may look strong, but in fact they are
cowardly and powerless.
Comrade Heavy-Machine Gun Squad Leader and Model Soldier,
you, too, were courageous in a decisive battle. I hope you will become
a Hero without fail by fighting better to liberate the south where you
came from.
The Deputy for Political Affairs to the C ommander of the C ompany
which produced Hero Kang Ho Yong is said to have roused the men
vigorously to annihilate the enemy by launching a movement to keep
in record the vengeance taken on the enemy for their comrades-in-arms
who fell in battles. He was proficient in his job. Since the political
work in the battlefield aims at rousing the soldiers to wipe out the
enemy, the revenge- and-record movement is one of the good methods
of political work. This movement should be widely introduced in all
units of the People’s Army. The Deputy Company Commander for
Political Affairs did his job effectively during the march as well to
make it a success. The unit which is good at marching is also good at
fighting. A swift march is an important factor in winning the battle.
Political work should be properly conducted to ensure a successful
march at small units of the People’s Army. To this end, the soldiers
should be imbued with the spirit of overcoming hardships.
Since you have not full support from air, artillery, armour and other
heavy weapons, it would be a good idea to strike at the enemy by night,
by surprise, by envelopment, by flanking movement and similar
tactics. Such tactics should be widely used. If you employ tactics
skilfully, you will be able to destroy a lot of enemy despite limited
heavy weapons support. In order to win a battle you should be efficient
in applying a variety of tactics. In particular, you must grasp
weaknesses of the enemy and turn them to good account. You should
employ supple tactics so as to win the battle with less bloodshed.
The soldiers at the front are now courageously fighting with a firm
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conviction of victory. Soldiers’ unshakable faith in victory is essential
in war. The small number of friendly aircraft in the sky may worry
some soldiers. But aircraft can never decide the outcome of a war.
Success in a war depends on the political and moral qualities of the
soldiers and people who participate in it. We must overwhelm the
enemy’s numerical and technical preponderance by our
politico-ideological and tactical superiority. As the fact shows, we are
defeating the enemy, though we have not many airplanes in action.
We have the ever-victorious Workers’ Party of Korea, more
powerful than airplanes or guns, and the heroic People’s Army and
people armed with the indomitable revolutionary spirit. And the
peoples of the fraternal countries are actively supporting and
encouraging us. A just war is bound to succeed. Our People’s Army
and people firmly united around the Party are sure to defeat the enemy
and achieve ultimate victory. With a firmer confidence in victory the
soldiers of the People’s Army should fight the enemy bravely.
If the US imperialists had not brought large reinforcements to the
front during our first counteroffensive, we would have already
liberated the whole area of the southern half and achieved the cause of
national reunification. But they brought in all their forces of the Pacific
area and even a part of their forces from the Mediterranean Sea and
launched a frantic invasion. This caused a great change in the balance
of forces between friend and foe. That was why we had to make a
strategic retreat. Accordingly, the just Fatherland Liberation War of
our people has dragged on and become difficult, and our People’s
Army and people are undergoing a severe trial.
The US imperialists will never leave Korea and withdraw of their
own accord. History knows no imperialisms having ever quitted the
land it occupied of its own will. US imperialism, in particular, is the
most vicious and atrocious invader and the ringleader of the world
reactionaries which has been involved in aggression and plunder from
the day of its birth in the world. Therefore, it will never withdraw from
Korea meekly. In the face of its repeated ignominious setbacks now in
the Korean war, US imperialist is using every available means and
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ways to realize its aggressive ambition at any cost. The nearer his
doom, the more frantic effort the enemy will make.
We must never rest content with successes already gained. We must
sharpen our vigilance still further and continue to fight stubbornly to
win the war ultimately. If we are to completely annihilate US
imperialism and its stooges and triumph finally in the Fatherland
Liberation War, we must be firmly ready to overcome more arduous
trials.
We cannot yield even an inch of our land to the enemy. We must
destroy him and liberate the southern half of Korea at any cost. As long
as US imperialism remains in the southern part of our country, Korea
will not be reunified nor will our people be able to lead a happy life.
We must wipe out the US imperialist aggressors from our land. This
very important task is entrusted to you.
Our Party believes in the valiant soldiers of the People’s Army
fighting at the front. Our heroic soldiers have been brave in all
battles-in advance or retreat, and in actions behind enemy lines-and
accumulated much experience. This experience will serve as precious
asset for the victory in the war.
The soldiers of the 12th Andong Infantry Division are said to be
determined to win the honour of a Guards Division by carrying out
more difficult combat missions. Their resolve is excellent. I hope they
will display mass heroism in the battles to liberate the southern half
and perform greater feats of valour.
Back at the front you yourselves should fight well as ever and at the
same time help the birth of more heroes and model soldiers until all
your units win these honours.
You should, first of all, lead Party organizational life properly and
observe Party discipline voluntarily.
It is an important guarantee for success in battles that all Party
members lead Party life properly and that Party organizations enhance
their role. If Party members neglect Party life and do not observe Party
discipline, victory cannot be ensured.
Party organizations should guide the Party life in keeping with
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battle situations. Party meetings on the firing line, for instance, should
not be held for long hours, following all the formalities. In combat
situations Party meetings should be held in a militant way. Party
organizations should guide Party life of their members meticulously,
give Party assignments to them without exception and sum up the
results in time. Thus all of them will be active all the time with high
political consciousness.
An iron military discipline should be established in the units.
Discipline is the life and soul of an army and a source of the fighting
capacity. In the units soldiers should be educated to observe military
discipline voluntarily.
Efficient military and political training is an important task of the
soldiers.
Knowledge will give you a firm confidence in the victory of the
revolution and enable you to carry out your combat missions with
credit. Knowledge is power. Soldiers tend to neglect study in war
conditions. This should not be the case. The more difficult and
complex the situation is, the harder you must study military and
political affairs and the current events. This is the way you can clearly
understand the will of the Party and the demands of the situation and
courageously fight on, overcoming all the difficulties and hardships.
Before all else you should study politics well. Party line and policy
should be brought home to the soldiers through political lessons in the
People’s Army units. Only then can the soldiers breathe and act in
accordance with the Party’s desire. Military subjects and current
events, too, should be studied well.
Proper use of newspapers, the Motivation Worker’s Handbook and
other publications is important in improving the training of soldiers.
They should make it a rule to read the editorials and other articles of
newspapers in particular. These reflect the policy of our Party and the
demands of the situation. Motivation workers should always carry
newspapers and the Motivation Worker’s Handbook with them and
read them to the soldiers in the intervals between marches or battles. If
the soldiers digest all these publications, they will be able to grasp the
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Party’s intention and the latest developments, know the happenings at
the home front and learn from the battle experience of other units. The
General Political Bureau of the People’s Army should take steps to
increase the circulation of the army paper and the Motivation Worker’s
Handbook and to deliver them quickly to the soldiers.
The People’s Army men should acquire the traits of overcoming
hardships and difficulties by their own efforts. As you know, in the
bygone days the anti-Japanese guerrillas fought Japanese imperialism
for 15 years and defeated it under very hard conditions without any
home front of a state and any support of a regular army. Under the
slogan of self-reliance they captured the enemy’s weapons to arm
themselves and solved the problems of food and clothing by
themselves. On top of it, they had to fight the enemy scores of times a
day, struggling through six-feet deep snowdrifts and often without
eating for several days on end. Whenever in difficulties the
anti-Japanese guerrillas helped each other and fought firmly united
with one mind and one will. The People’s Army must carry forward
this revolutionary spirit of the anti-Japanese guerrillas. You say that
when you run out of ammunition you wrest it from the enemy and fight
on. This is the way a revolutionary soldier should fight.
You say that you do not feel homesick for your parents, though it is
a long time since your enlistment. Why not? You must be too busy
fighting the Americans to be homesick. The warmer one’s love of
home, parents and brothers, the more bitter one’s hatred for the enemy
and the braver one is in battle.
I would like to give each of you a wristwatch and a sub-machine
gun with an inscription: “Wipe out the US imperialist aggressors!” as
souvenirs of this occasion. This gun is permeated with the precious
sweat and blood of the revolutionary forerunners and the people and
also with the desire of the Party and the people to annihilate the enemy,
defend the country and liberate the people downtrodden by the
American imperialist aggressors in the south. With this gun you must
destroy the aggressors to the last man. You will keep it in your hands
until you liberate the south and reunify the country. You will tell the
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valiant soldiers at the front that our workers are making such excellent
weapons on their own and the people in the rear, too, are lighting well.
In the future the situation at the front will turn more and more in
favour of our People’s Army and people, and we will triumph without
fail.
Please convey my best regards and instructions to your fellow
soldiers, back at the front.
The soldiers on the field wished the Supreme Commander a long
life in good health. If they fight well in good health, I, too, shall be
healthy. I wish all the soldiers at the front will fight on in good health
and more courageously for the Party, the country and the people. My
heart is always with the men fighting in the trenches.
See all of you again when the American imperialist aggressors are
wiped out and the war is won.
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ON SOME QUESTIONS ARISING IN OUR
LITERATURE AND ART
Talk with Writers and Artists
June 30, 1951
Writers and artists,
Our writers and artists are entrusted with very important tasks today
when the Korean people are fighting a sacred war of liberation against
the US imperialist aggressors in defence of the freedom and
independence of the country. As engineers of the human soul, they
should vividly reflect in their works our people’s lofty patriotism and
staunch fighting spirit and their unshakable conviction in final victory.
They should see that their works serve our fighting people as a
powerful weapon and as a great inspiration spurring them to ultimate
victory.
Since liberation there has been rapid progress in our literature and
art and our writers and artists have scored brilliant achievements.
But we must not rest content with past achievements. We must
remember that our writers and artists have many shortcomings in their
work. They have failed to reflect the noble ideas and sentiments of the
people and their life and work on a high artistic plane. Their creative
activities have lost touch with life and are lagging behind our rapidly
advancing realities. Our writers and artists have failed to portray vividly,
on a high level of representation and artistic form, men and women
engaged in the creation of a new life. They have failed to produce
excellent literary and art works in a large number that can be made
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textbooks of life. They still do not skilfully depict our people’s creative
labour and heroic struggle. They fail to reflect well the criticism and
hatred of things old and the love of and longing for the new.
Many literary and art works have been produced by our writers and
artists during the Fatherland Liberation War, but, in terms of both
ideological content and artistic quality, it cannot be said that they are
worthy of our heroic people.
Availing myself of this opportunity at our small gathering today, I
would like to speak to you writers and artists on some important
problems in our literature and art.
Our writers and artists must reflect our people’s lofty patriotism in
their works. Patriotism stems only from a good knowledge of the past
of one’s country and of the fine traditions, culture and customs of one’s
nation. Patriotism is not an abstract concept, but is boundless love for
the land, history and culture of one’s country. It is manifested also in
attachment to one’s native place and its people, affection for one’s
parents, wife and children. Patriotism takes concrete forms and finds
concrete expression in human feelings.
Writers and artists should therefore present the lofty patriotism of
our people concretely and profoundly through the thoughts, feelings
and lives of real people, instead of filling their works with abstract and
dry slogans. Only then will the patriotism represented in their works be
concrete and true to life.
Never before in their history have the Korean people displayed such
lofty patriotism as today. At the front and in the rear, in town and country,
our people are displaying patriotic devotion unimaginable in the past.
This shows that our people are deeply concerned about the fate of
their country and that they are fully conscious of their historical
mission. It also shows that our people, breaking through the limits of
narrow nationalism, have become profoundly aware of their position
and stand from the viewpoint of world history.
The Korean people of today are different from what they were
under Japanese imperialist rule, or from what they were in the feudal
era of the Ri dynasty.
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Literary and art works must mirror this great change in our nation’s
history.
Narrow nationalist or chauvinist sentiments are alien to lofty
patriotism and national pride, which find genuine expression only
when these remnants of outdated ideologies are totally eliminated. It
goes without saying, therefore, that our patriotism must be combined
with the thorough internationalist spirit which allows no vestige of
nationalism and chauvinism.
Further, writers and artists must portray the heroism and fortitude
of our People’s Army. Though young, our People’s Army has
accumulated incomparably rich combat experience. In the course of
the first offensive our army learned how to wage offensive action to
defeat the enemy, and during the strategic retreat it learned how to
regroup its ra nk s in the face of a strong enemy and how to prepare its
combat forces for a fresh offensive. Our army has thus become
strengthened and grown into a full-fledged modem army.
The heroism of the People’s Army is found in its mass heroism, not
in the heroism of a few individual soldiers. Innumerable acts of
heroism and courage in battle are graphic evidence that our men and
officers are fully conscious of their sacred duty to the country and the
people and that they are fulfilling it magnificently.
Writers and artists must portray the countless heroes who have
sprung from the people. There are some who take pains to seek novelty
or a legendary figure in order, they claim, to portray heroes. Such an
attitude in creative work makes it impossible to depict our heroes
truthfully. Our heroes are yesterday’s workers, peasants, office
workers and students, and their children. Describe their deep feelings
and human traits, their lofty ideas and convictions and their unaffected,
simple behaviour as they are, and you will have caught the image of the
heroes of our Republic today.
In this respect, too, you must not proceed from an abstract concept
but from concrete reality. Remember that abstraction means death to
art.
It is to be regretted that among our writers there are those who, not
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acquainted with the qualities of a hero and without making a detailed
study of him, try to portray him after hearing his brief personal history.
This not only debases the hero himself but shows intolerable disdain
for our readers.
Our writers must always remember that their works go into the hands
of the people. They must bear in mind that people read their works not as
a better means of killing time than taking a nap but to acquire a deeper
understanding of life, to leam something from the lofty spirit of ordinary
people who serve the country and the people devotedly and to increase
their confidence in the happy future of mankind.
Our literary and art works must not only represent the struggle of
heroes at the front but also the struggle of our people who have fought
heroically in the rear and in enemy-occupied areas.
Writers and artists must produce works which will help our
People’s Army men and all the people strengthen their confidence in
victory. One’s conviction of victory becomes real and acquires great
force only when one knows one’s strength and conditions well and is
able to estimate the enemy’s strength and situation correctly. Our
writers and artists, while portraying the indestructible superiority of
our social system and the inexhaustible strength of our people, their
unity and high ideological level and so on, should also give a clear
picture of the enemy’s fatal weak points and his situation. It is
important here to describe on a high artistic plane that the war we are
waging now is a just war-a war for the freedom and independence of
the country and the happiness of all generations to come.
Also, our writers and artists should arouse burning hatred for the
enemy through their works. Here the question arises as to how to
depict the enemy. Our writers paint the US imperialist aggressors as
cunning. That is right, of course. It must be remembered, however, that
not only are they cunning, they are also the most heinous and foul
barbarians of modern times. The US imperialists have shown their true
features in all their ugliness in Korea.
The US robbers have reduced our towns and villages to ashes and
are massacring our people. American missionaries who once presented
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themselves as “apostles of God” in Korea are now assembling
pregnant women by the score and shooting them down en masse with
carbines and running over children with tanks. The “gentlemen of Wall
Street”, who Used to boast arrogantly to the world of the “Goddess of
Liberty”, now strip Korean girls naked and carry them oil in cars and
tanks, perpetrating outrages and atrocities against them which surpass
all human imagination.
The barbarities of the US imperialists in Korea are the most heinous
crime against humanity and an indescribable insult to posterity. They
will arouse the wrath and curse of the people of the world for all ages to
come. We must thoroughly expose the crimes of the US bandits to the
people of the world and teach our people to hate them.
Writers and artists should not only expose these barbarities but also
bring out in their works the evil of the traitorous Syngman Rhee clique.
But mere description of the enemy’s atrocities does not in itself
mean realistic art, nor do works of this sort always invoke hostility
against the enemy. It is to be regretted that the naturalistic technique
still finds glaring expression in the works of our writers and artists.
Without thoroughly rectifying such a tendency, it is impossible to
advance our literature and art in a wholesome direction.
Writers and artists should know that the real creator of great art is
always the people. No excellent work of art ever fails to command the
people’s love, and if a work of art is not understood and appreciated by
the people, it cannot be excellent. Our writers and artists must delve
deeply into the life of the people. They must study the people’s
literature, folk tales, folk songs, etc., and make extensive use of them
in their creative activities. But not all folk songs are good, and not all
folk tales are worth using.
Here a question arises as to what we should inherit from the past
and how we should use it. From the literature and art of the past we
must take over and develop those things that are genuinely of the
people and cast aside whatever is unscientific and vulgar.
There are people who think that inheriting national culture means
singing all the old folk songs as they were sung in the past, but that is
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wrong. Such a tendency runs counter to the basic line for the
development of our national culture. We must preserve the fine
features peculiar to our nation in folk song, music, dance and other
spheres, but, at the same time, create new rhythms, new melodies and
new rhythmic forms demanded by the new life and learn to put new
content in the rich, varied artistic forms created by our people.
While taking over and developing our own literary and art heritage,
we should study that which is excellent and progressive in the literature
and art of the Soviet Union, China and other People’s Democracies,
thereby enriching our national culture still further.
Our literature and art do not present the Soviet Union satisfactorily
as the bulwark of world peace and the Soviet people as an eternal
friend of our people. They give an incomplete picture of the Chinese
People’s Volunteers, who are valiantly fighting shoulder to shoulder
with the Korean People’s Army, and poorly represent the peoples of
the People’s Democracies who are giving us internationalist support
and encouragement.
Our Korean writers and artists must produce many works of high
artistic quality on these subjects, so that they strike terror into the
hearts of the aggressors and warmongers and give songs of warm
friendship to peace-loving people the world over.
Our writers and artists should practise lively criticism and
self-criticism on their creative activities. Works revealing either a
formalistic trend or cosmopolitan element have also appeared in our
literature and art since liberation. Yet, literary and art criticism still
remains backward.
Stagnation and backwardness in this sphere must be overcome if
creative work is to go forward. It goes without saying that we cannot
expect literature and art to develop soundly if there is no criticism.
Needless to say, however, criticism should not proceed along the lines
of “Let’s smash up,” but should be constructive in every sense.
Some critics still have the tendency to “knock down” authors and
their works; instead of giving them advice and assistance and
indicating to them the right path for their creative work. This sort of
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criticism is not the literary criticism we are calling for.
The critics should be thoroughgoing and shaip in their criticism
and, at the same time, their criticism should be permeated with the
comradely spirit of mutual help and cooperation so that they correct
defects along with the authors, produce better results and contribute to
our treasure house of culture. Committing errors in creative work is
nothing to be feared. Writers may make mistakes and their works may
reveal defects. What is to be feared most is that the defects are not
corrected and that they are connived at.
Not only should the unity of writers and critics be strengthened, but
also the unity of all the creative teams in the literary and art world. An
implacable struggle must be fought against any and every sectarian act
and tendency that impedes the implementation of the Party’s policies
on literature and art and weakens the unity of the literary and art world.
Dear writers and artists,
You have the glorious task of introducing our people’s heroic
struggle to the world and handing it down to posterity through your
creative activities. More than ever, our people are showing a keen
interest in your work.
Art demanded by a heroic people must naturally be heroic, and the
art demanded by a people that has entered the world arena must
naturally rise to world levels. The people expect you to work heart and
soul to create such literature and art.
You are glorious soldiers on the literary and art front. How can a
writer create patriotic works if he is not an ardent patriot, and how can
an artist create art for the people if he has no love for the people?
Outstanding world writers and artists were great patriots and great
champions of a happy life for the people. So, they have the love and
respect of all people down the ages and are the pride of mankind.
Today, the Korean people are valiantly marching to final victory in
the Fatherland Liberation War, overcoming all difficulties and ordeals. 1
firmly believe that you writers and artists, the best sons and daughters of
our heroic people, will emerge on the world scene through great works
of art and will make our glorious era shine for all generations to come.
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ON STRENGTHENING AIR DEFENCE
Talk with Cadres of the Supreme Headquarters
of the Korean People’s Army
July 13, 1951
Today I would like to speak to you about some problems for
strengthening air defence.
The US imperialist aggressors sustained a serious loss by the
successive powerful counterattack of our People’s Army in the fifth
operation of the third stage of the Fatherland Liberation War. The
enemy was encircled and annihilated everywhere and lost heavily in
men and materiel.
Having suffered the repeated ignominious defeats by the powerful
attack of our People’s Army units, the US imperialists were thrown
into confusion and have proposed armistice negotiations to our side.
Insidiously manoeuvring to use the negotiation hall in retrieving
their military and political setbacks at the front, the US imperialists are
attempting to launch another military offensive by increasing their
forces behind the screen of the armistice talks.
They are scheming to seize the mountainous areas of strategic
importance on the eastern and central sectors of the front by landing
their fresh forces in the areas of Wonsan and Thongchon and by
joining their efforts with the forces attacking from the ground. At
present, they are preparing on a large scale for landing to launch a new
campaign and, at the same time, reinforcing their air force. The US
imperialist aggressors are expanding their air base in Okinawa,
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increasing the number of B-29 bombers and bringing various new-type
aircraft to air bases at Kimpho, Suwon, Taegu, Phohang and other parts
of south Korea.
In an attempt to disrupt our home front, they are now mobilizing a
large air force, destroying power stations, reservoirs, railways and
bridges and killing our innocent people in cold blood by
indiscriminately bombing Pyongyang, Wonsan, Hamhung, Chongjin,
Sariwon, Haeju, Nampho, Sinuiju and other big towns and villages.
This urgently demands that we further strengthen air defence. More
effective air defence is all the more important and urgent especially
because the enemy is increasing the air force on a large scale, pinning
hope on “air supremacy”, in an attempt to recover from his defeat on
the ground.
What is most important in strengthening air defence is to establish a
strict system by which to ensure a unified command and control of this
effort.
Until recently the Supreme Headquarters had no department to
perform such a function. In other words, no one was specifically in
charge of air defence. We have newly set up an air-defence department
in the Supreme Headquarters. The main purpose lies in establishing a
thoroughgoing system of unified air-defence command. This
department will exercise unified command and control of air defence
both for the frontline units and the home front.
The air-defence department should thoroughly establish an air
watch and warning system and keep it under its unified direction.
Air defence can be efficient only when this system spots the enemy
planes quickly and alerts anti-aircraft artillery and air force units
promptly.
Air watches should be wide-awake and spot enemy planes early. To
this end, surveillance by radars and visual means should be combined
properly. Air-defence surveillance should not rely exclusively on
radars. Radars may not be able to spot all enemy planes intruding into
our country where there are many high mountains. So the two means of
surveillance should be combined properly.
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For efficient visual surveillance air watches should be posted on the
top of mountains in the frontline areas, on the west and east coasts, and
all other parts of the country where enemy air invasion is probable. Air
observation posts should be located in such a way that enemy planes
can be spelled with naked eyes simultaneously from two points. In
addition, it would be a good idea to have alternate posts. Then, any of
them is bound to catch sight of enemy aircraft.
On spotting an enemy plane, the observation post should warn the
central post and the units concerned, and the central post in turn should
inform the Air-Defence Office of the Ministry of the Interior. Only
then can we shoot down enemy planes without fail and suffer less
damage.
The Supreme Headquarters should quickly fill up the staff of the
Air-Defence Department and man the units under its direct control
according to the table of organization, and provide the air-defence
units preferentially with the radio sets, weapons and other necessary
equipment.
Further, the movement of aircraft-hunting teams should be further
intensified.
This movement is the best method of mass anti-aircraft struggle. It
can be easily organized anywhere and will ensure mobility in
shooting down enemy planes. Forming many of such teams is also
very economical. It is said that hundreds of anti-aircraft shells are
fired to hit an enemy plane. But a lot of them will be saved if we
organize many aircraft-hunting teams and shoot down enemy planes
with small arms.
In the future, these teams should be increased in number so that
each of the tactically important heights and major targets can be
protected with a dense network of small arms fire.
It is wrong in air defence to overestimate the role of anti-aircraft
artillery and air force and underestimate that of aircraft-hunting teams
equipped with small arms. It is true that the former plays an important
role in air defence. But it is impossible to dispose anti-aircraft guns on
every height, nor is there any need to do so. Combatting enemy aircraft
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with a large force of aircraft-hunting teams is most effective in our
country with many mountains.
Each infantry regiment should have two to three of such teams
equipped with large-calibre machine guns, heavy machine guns,
anti-tank rifles, rifles and other small arms.
We have good experience in shooting down enemy planes with
small arms in the days of the anti-Japanese armed struggle. We have
also the experience of our People’s Army men having downed enemy
aircraft with heavy machine guns in Mt. Kyongam of Sariwon and also
with rifles at the time of the first southward advance during the
Fatherland Liberation War. Such experience should be disseminated
and generalized widely among the soldiers, so that they carry on an
extensive drive to shoot down enemy planes with small arms.
The practice of assigning or dismissing the members of
aircraft-hunting teams arbitrarily, instead of fixing them, and that of
dissolving existing teams, should be eliminated. Since the
aircraft-hunting team is the first of its kind we have ever had, we can
hardly expect that everything will go smoothly from the outset. It is
natural that the growth and development of the new is beset with
difficulties and obstacles. The aircraft-hunting team movement, too,
will get on the track and show results only when it has accumulated
experience, surmounting difficulties and obstacles for a certain period.
If commanding officers raise their organizing function and give proper
training to the members of the teams, this movement will prove quite
successful in a short span of time.
Massive development of this movement should be coupled with the
continuous strengthening of anti-aircraft artillery and air force units.
Anti-aircraft artillery plays an important role in air defence. A
strong anti-aircraft artillery is needed to protect major targets; it should
be massed around such targets.
The anti-aircraft artillery force involved in the air defence of
Pyongyang is now deployed rather in a dispersed manner. Such a
disposition will make it difficult to shoot down enemy planes.
Anti-aircraft guns should be massed for the defence of important
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targets. Medium-and small-calibre guns should be located in such a
way as to ensure integral fire coordination in keeping with the
characters of the targets to be protected. In case a medium-calibre AA
battery is disposed separately, it should have attached weapons capable
of killing low-flying targets and of protecting itself. Since the enemy
planes are now intensifying bombing on Pyongyang, we should
concretely examine the city’s air defence and take elaborate measures.
Air force, too, should be strengthened. Since we have not yet many
planes, we need not have two separate air forces-one exclusively for
air defence, and the other for close air support. Separate air forces
would make it impossible to mass air power in its employment and to
ensure unified leadership. We should, therefore, have a single air force
in keeping with our actual conditions and give it close-air-support,
air-defence and coastal-defence missions.
To continue. Close cooperation should be ensured among
anti-aircraft artillery, air force and aircraft-hunting teams. Their close
coordination is very important in air defence. Their harmonious
development and concerted actions alone will ensure success in
combatting modem enemy aircraft. Fire should be coordinated mainly
by boundaries and altitudes, and the anti-aircraft artillery units and
aircraft-hunting teams involved in fire coordination should be
informed of the codes and signals for the identification of friendly
aircraft. Only then, the artillery units and hunting teams will be able to
distinguish between friend and foe in the air.
Next, we should make a careful study of the nature of activities and
tactics of enemy planes and take appropriate countermeasures.
In all battles, ground, naval and air, the enemy cannot be countered
by appropriate tactics unless one knows the nature of enemy actions
and his tactics. Only when a wrestler knows his rival’s skill beforehand
can he take advantage of his weak points and trip up the opponent or
apply belly throw. The same is true of anti-aircraft battles. A good
knowledge of the nature of enemy air actions and tactics will enable us
to use effective countermeasures and strike the enemy on his weak
spot.
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At present, the enemy has made a number of tactical changes in his
aerial warfare. This demands that we take suitable countermeasures.
Aircraft-hunting teams should not have firing positions at fixed
spots. They should have one or two alternate positions so that they can
shoot down enemy aircraft by moving from one position to another
whenever necessary according to the nature of enemy air actions and
tactics. Along with this, they should set up dummy positions and mock
targets and the like in many places, and lure and shoot down the
enemy.
Thoroughgoing measures should be taken to prevent damage from
bombing and strafing by the enemy. In particular, units and supply
service facilities should be dispersed and camouflaged properly.
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ON EXTENSIVE USE OF MORTARS
Instruction No. 00468 of the Supreme Commander
of the Korean People’s Army
August 11, 1951
The experience of our People’s Army units in their heroic battles
against the American and British armed interventionists and the puppet
Syngman Rhee’s army shows that 82mm and 120mm mortars are
powerful fire-support weapons for the infantry in mountainous terrains.
Nevertheless, most of the infantry commanding officers still do not know
how to use mortars effectively and even tend to underestimate them.
The 82mm mortar of the infantry battalion is very simple in its
structure. The crew needed to operate this requires a comparatively
short training period. It also has special features as regards the
effectiveness of its shells as compared with those of 76mm
The 120mm mortar of the infantry regiment is a powerful weapon
capable of destroying or suppressing enemy troops. It can hit targets in
trenches and on reverse slopes and fire freely over steep defilades in
mountainous areas, which would be impossible for the artillery to do.
Mortars are much more useful in mountains than other guns.
Mortars can be emplaced in rugged mountains without difficulty,
and their firing positions, if well chosen to suit the terrain features, are
safe from enemy air attack and artillery fire. So the enemy will find it
most difficult to neutralize our mortars.
As our war experience shows, mortar units play an important role
in mountain warfare. They can be readily employed in mountains
where artillery action is difficult.
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Some infantry battalion and regimental commanders are taking a
wrong attitude towards mortar employment, despite its many advantages.
Some infantry battalion commanders are committing a serious
mistake: when their forces advance, they only use a very small number of
mortars, leaving the bulk of them behind on the pretext that ammunition
supply is difficult. This prevents the full use of mortar fire in mass
destruction of enemy manpower and weapons. This is because they do not
realize that an extensive use of mortars will bring greater battle results.
Commanders of some infantry battalions and regiments are
oblivious of the fundamental question, that is, the extensive
employment of mortar units within the advancing infantry battle
formation in firing over the heads of their attacking infantry forces,
through gaps between small units, on flanks or on slopes, and do not
assign these missions to mortar unit commanders in concrete terms.
Mortar units are isolated or left out of combat action because
infantry commanders do not help their mortar men in step with the
forward movement of the battle formation.
The crew of an 82mm mortar has been increased to eight persons to
help them to overcome the difficulties in mountain warfare. But this
does not preclude the need of infantry units to help mortar units where
the latter’s passage is difficult.
In order to correct the aforesaid major shortcomings quickly and make
an effective use of mortars in the future, I issue the following instructions:
1. The above-mentioned shortcomings in the combat employment
of mortars shall be made known to the commanders of the mortar units
and infantry battalions and regiments.
2. That the mortar is one of the powerful infantry weapons shall be
explained to every soldier, and lessons shall be given on the tactical
and technical data of the mortar and the basic combat mission of
mortar units in August 1951.
3. Necessary measures to use the mortar widely shall be taken, and
the errors rectified quickly.
4. The Front Commander shall report to me by August 15, 1951,
regarding the steps he has taken to implement these instructions.
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REPORT AT THE PYONGYANG
MEETING TO CELEBRATE THE SIXTH
ANNIVERSARY OF THE AUGUST
15 LIBERATION
August 14, 1951
Dear fellow countrymen, brothers and sisters,
We Korean people are observing the sixth anniversary of the
August 15 liberation amidst the rigorous circumstances of the great
Fatherland Liberation War.
In the forefront of the struggle of the peoples throughout the world
to defend their nations and their countries’ independence and win
peace, the Korean people are now carrying out the historic task of
annihilating the US imperialist-led armed interventionists from 16
countries and the traitorous Syngman Rheeites. They are playing a
great role in checking the outbreak of a third world war for which the
US and British imperialists are preparing frenziedly.
During the past one year and two months of the Fatherland
Liberation War our people by delivering heavy blows at the US
imperialists and the puppet Syngman Rhee’s clique, their cat’s paw,
have manifested the heroism and fortitude of the Korean people and
demonstrated to the whole world their great ability to defend the
freedom and independence of the country.
In the course of the war the political awareness of the Korean
people has risen as never before. Never before have the cohesion of all
the people and the united front of all political parties been consolidated
354
as they are today. Both at the battle and home fronts, our people have
made every effort to win the war and thus shown that they can achieve
the ultimate victory.
In the prolonged warfare against the invaders of 16 countries
headed by such a strong aggressor as the US imperialists, the Korean
people are striking a telling blow at them and registering a historic
victory. This is due to the fact that they have become strong through
the building up of democracy in all fields of politics, the economy and
culture, holding power firmly in their hands over the last six years.
On behalf of the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic
of Korea, on this occasion of the sixth anniversary of the August 15
liberation, I would like to extend felicitations to the officers and men of
the Korean People’s Army and all the Korean people who are
displaying such unparalleled heroism and fortitude in the prolonged
war to defend the motherland and who are commanding the unbounded
respect of the people throughout the world.
Dear fellow countrymen,
I am going to review the Fatherland Liberation War waged by us for
14 months.
As you all know, the Government of our Republic, together with all
the Korean people, has been, for years, making every possible effort to
solve the question of national reunification in a peaceful way.
But the US imperialists instigated the treacherous Syngman Rhee
clique to provoke a fratricidal war on June 25 last year in order to
realize the so-called “northward expedition” that they had been
planning for so long with the aim of conquering the whole of our
country.
Only three days after unleashing the fratricidal war in Korea, the
US imperialists started the direct armed intervention against our
country in what they called “police action” in the name of the UN. As a
result, our country was enveloped in the flames of the aggressive war
kindled by the US imperialists. All the patriotic Koreans rose to fight
for victory in the great Fatherland Liberation War with an indomitable
fighting will and the bitterest animosity against the enemy’s
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outrageous and inhuman acts of aggression.
Our People’s Army displayed heroism and devotion to the utmost
in order to safeguard the honour and freedom of the country. Repulsing
the enemy’s invasion and giving fatal blows to his troops and materiel,
the officers and men of the People’s Army advanced down to the
Raktong River, and shattered with one stroke the design of the
so-called “northward expedition” which had been worked out
meticulously by the US imperialists.
Coming to this pass, the US imperialists first sent to Korea a few
US divisions stationed in Japan to rescue their old henchman,
Syngman Rhee, and attempted to stop the advance of the People’s
Army. But they could not stop it. After that the US imperialists
mobilized their armed forces on the Pacific, part of its Mediterranean
Fleet and even the troops of their satellites and landed them at Inchon.
Taking advantage of our Republic’s inadequate preparations of war
mobilization to oppose imperialist aggression, the enemy sent massive
forces to the Korean war for the purpose of occupying the whole area
of the northern half. As a result, the People’s Army had to make a
strategic retreat in the face of the attack made by the enemy’s
formidable land, naval and air forces which were several times greater
than ours in number, and a large area of the northern half was occupied
temporarily by the aggressors.
The enemy killed a great many people in the areas occupied by
them, destroyed the peaceful industrial establishments and cultural
facilities built by the sweat of our people’s brow and reduced our
towns and villages to ashes. They tried to subjugate our people the way
the Japanese imperialists had done.
But, in the grim days when our country’s existence was threatened,
our people stood solidly united around the Government of the Republic
and struggled tenaciously for their country. They were determined to
fight to the last drop of their blood, braving all sorts of sacrifices and
hardships, fully convinced that victory would finally be theirs.
We actively enlisted workers, peasants, intellectuals and students in
the People’s Army, reinforced it quantitatively and qualitatively, and
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thus prepared the forces for a counteroffensive in a short span of time.
Meanwhile, all the people devoted themselves to their tasks at the
home front and in giving assistance to the battle front.
Even in the areas which were under the temporary occupation of the
enemy, the people enraged at the enemy’s brutalities fought against
them, never succumbing to their repressions and massacre, and carried
out daring guerrilla warfare in step with the advance of the People’s
Army.
The Chinese people who have been on friendly terms with the
Korean people through many years of revolutionary struggles could
not look on with arms folded at the grave situation our people were in.
Many of the best sons and daughters of the Chinese people organized
volunteer units of their own accord and took part in the Korean war to
help the Korean people to surmount their difficulties and crises. This
just action of assistance taken by the Chinese people not only increased
the Korean people’s conviction of victory but also served as a
tremendous force with which to annihilate the beastly invaders from 16
countries including the imperialist United States.
In close coordination, the valorous Korean People’s Army and
Chinese People’s Volunteers conducted five operations and dealt a
heavy blow at the enemy.
Towards the end of October last year the first operation was
launched in order to destroy and hold in check the enemy who had
invaded as far as the area north of the Chongchon River. In this
operation the gallant People’s Army and Chinese People’s Volunteers
forces delivered crushing blows at the enemy’s corps d’elite, including
the 2nd and 24th US Divisions and the Turkish Brigade, as well as the
1st and 6th Divisions of the south Korean puppet army. They
completely liberated the area north of the Chongchon River, and
checked the enemy’s attack, smashing MacArthur’s absurd plan to
occupy the whole area of Korea up to the borders on the Amnok River
before “Christmas”.
Late in November last year our People’s Army and the Chinese
People’s Volunteers went on to the second operation, giving no respite
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to the enemy. In this operation most of the 25th US Division, the 29th
British Brigade and the 7th and 8th Divisions of the puppet army were
encircled and crushed on the Chongchon River; and on Lake Jangjin
and the east coast, the main forces of the 1st US Marine Division and
the 7th US Division, and the main forces of the 3rd Division and the
Capital Division of the puppet army were crushed and exterminated.
This resulted in the complete liberation of Pyongyang, our country’s
democratic capital, and the areas of Hamhung and Wonsan.
The third operation took place from late December last year until
early January of this year. In a few days our People’s Army and the
Chinese People’s Volunteers overran the pillboxes along the 38th
Parallel, built by the US imperialist armed forces of aggression and the
composite forces from Britain, Australia and the like, and broke
through their defence line which stretched over a distance of more than
760 kilometres; they pursued and wiped out the enemy in flight,
liberated Seoul in a flash and went on to liberate the important places
such as Inchon, Suwon, Hongchon, Hoengsong and Wonju. In this
operation they totally or partially destroyed the 2nd and 5th Divisions
of the puppet Syngman Rhee’s army, the 24th and 25th US Divisions,
the 21 st and 19th British Brigades and Tank Regiment, and many other
troops.
With a view to wiping out the enemy’s combat effectives en masse
to baffle their plan of landing, we carried out the fourth and the fifth
operation during the period from late January till the beginning of June
this year. In these operations our People’s Army and the Chinese
People’s Volunteers encircled and smashed most or part of the 3rd,
24th and 25th US Divisions and the 1st US Cavalry Division, British
and Turkish units and the units of the 1st, 6th, 7th, 3rd and 9th
Divisions of the puppet army, thus inflicting tremendous losses on the
enemy’s troops and equipment.
We can sum up the results of our brilliant successes achieved in a
year since the beginning of the war as follows.
According to the minimized figures announced by the US
imperialists themselves, the losses the enemy has sustained in the
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Korean war amount to more than 50,000 million dollars and the losses
in manpower and materiel exceed one half of what was sustained
during World War II. More than 598,000 enemy troops were killed,
wounded or taken captive by our army. The enemy’s weapons and
equipment captured or destroyed include 146,000 rifles, 68,838 guns,
9,145 motorcars and 1,997 tanks and armoured vehicles. We brought
down or captured 1,730 enemy planes, sank 122 naval vessels and
captured 120 wagons of ammunition.
During the Fatherland Liberation War in the period or a little more
than a year, great successes were registered not only at the front but
also in the rear which aided the front.
All the people more clearly realized that the people’s government
was the only true government for national independence and the
people, and they rallied around it. They took an active part in the work
of aiding the front and consolidating the rear under the slogan
“Everything for victory in the war!”.
Our workers produced more arms, ammunition and other military
supplies for the People’s Army in good time. In particular, the railway
and other transport workers succeeded in ensuring wartime transport in
spite of the heavy bombing peipetrated by the enemy every day.
The shortage of manpower and draught animals in the countryside
and the enemy’s intensive air raids did not prevent the peasants from
rising as one to produce more food in response to the appeal from the
Government of the Republic. In spite of hardships the peasants
finished sowing this year half a month earlier than last year and
completed weeding also in good time. Consequently, we can now
expect a bumper harvest this year.
We are especially proud of the fact that the women are playing an
active part in the rural and industrial areas in place of their husbands
who have gone to the front. I highly value the meritorious deeds of the
Korean women who have displayed unbounded patriotic devotion in
rebuilding the roads and aiding the front day and night even through
the rigours of winter.
Our men of science, culture and the arts, too, have served the state
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and people devotedly at the front and in the rear. They put out a large
amount of scientific and theoretical literature and created excellent
realist works of patriotism.
The analysis of the one year and two months of the Fatherland
Liberation War shows that the US imperialists who had schemed to
occupy the whole of our territory in a trice and enslave our nation,
failed completely in their wild designs and that the morale of the US
imperialist troops is getting lower every day because of their
successive defeats in a number if operations; also, the contradictions
among the imperialists themselves are being aggravated.
It shows on the other hand that the Korean people tempered in the
war are becoming more and more tenacious and that the combat
capabilities of the Korean People’s Army and the Chinese People’s
Volunteers have increased even further.
Firm foundations have been laid in the war for our complete victory
and the Korean people have grown invincible.
Fellow countrymen,
Through the struggle against the invaders headed by the US
imperialists, our own forces have gained in strength; so have the
international democratic forces which are giving us moral and material
support and encouragement. The peoples of the People’s Democracies
and hundreds of millions of freedom-loving people the world over are
now united firm as a rock.
They are waging a great struggle to win a durable peace and prevent
the fascist imperialist war of aggression.
Since World War II, the Soviet Union has already entered upon its
task of building a communist society, for which it is carrying out the
postwar Five-Year National Economic Plan successfully. The Soviet
Five-Year Plan envisages a 90-per cent increase in total industrial
output value in 1950 as against 1940, the year before the war. This
year’s total industrial output value has exceeded the prewar level by 70
per cent and, particularly, the steel industry has already surpassed the
goal under the Five-Year Plan. Big headway has been made in
agriculture, too. Last year the total grain output increased to 7,600
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million pood. Such tremendous Soviet achievements in economic
construction, not only improve the living standards of its people and
promote their well-being, but also ensure favourable conditions for the
economic development of the People’s Democracies.
Under the leadership of the C ommunist Party of China, the Chinese
people overthrew the Jiang Jieshi’s reactionary Guomindang rule and
founded the People’s Republic of China by unifying the whole of
China. They brought about a great democratic progress in all spheres
of politics, economy and culture, thus becoming part of the gigantic
forces of the world democratic camp.
The People’s Democracies in East and Southeast Europe are
advancing victoriously on the road to socialism.
National-liberation struggles are going on in the colonial or semi¬
colonial countries of Southeast Asia. The struggles of the Vietnamese
people against the French invaders and of the Malay and Philippine
peoples against the American and British imperialists are gaining
momentum every day.
The working-class movements are on a steady upswing in the
capitalist countries, too. The workers in the capitalist countries
throughout the world who are groaning in poverty and hunger are
fighting fiercely against imperialist exploitation: 70,000 US textile
workers waged a nationwide strike which stopped the production of
ordered munitions; 9,000 aviators of US airlines went on a strike; steel
workers downed their tools in West Germany; ship workers were on
strike in France and Italy; coal miners carried out a strike in Japan; and
the employees of the Iranian Oil Company also went on a strike.
People throughout the world are waging an intensive campaign to
defend peace against the provokers of a new war. More than 800
million people are already taking part in this campaign.
The Soviet Union has time and again made proposals at the UN
General Assembly on the conclusion of a peace treaty between the five
great powers, disarmament, the banning of atomic weapons, and so on.
These proposals are aimed to ensure a durable peace throughout the
world, prevent imperialists from meddling in the internal affairs of
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other countries, enable many peoples of the world to hew out their own
destiny and provide all nations with equal rights and liberty.
But the US and British imperialists have turned down these just
Soviet proposals and are attempting and resorting to military
adventures. US imperialism is emerging as the chief of the provokers
of a fresh war with wicked designs of world domination. Taking
advantage of the difficulties that exist in a number of European
countries after World War II, the US imperialists are interfering
directly in their internal affairs and subjugating them militarily,
politically and economically.
The US imperialists are trying hard to put down the national-
liberation movements in the colonial and semi-colonial countries of
Asia and are running amuck trying to rule the East at their will as they
did before. They are also plotting to squash the working-class and
communist movements which are gaining momentum in many
capitalist countries. With a view to attaining their ambition for world
domination they are making frenzied preparations for another
aggressive war while deceiving the world’s people and their own
countrymen and covering up their piratic invasion with a mendacious
“anti-communist defence task”.
Spreading the most barbarous ideas and theory of human hatred at
home and poisoning their people with the venom of chauvinism and
militarism, the US and British imperialists are preparing for a new,
third world war.
It is reported that the US imperialists will augment their military
budget by more than 1,000 million dollars annually and that out of this
year’s military budget expenditure amounting to 60,000 million
dollars, they will spend 34,700 million dollars on the manufacture of
aircraft, warships, tanks and so on.
In order to realize their aggressive ambitions the US imperialists
have never hesitated to carry out openly any heinous and reactionary
murderous policy. We Koreans know this fact better than anybody
else.
In Korea the Americans committed atrocities the like of which
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cannot be found in the history of any nation. In the areas of the
northern half which were temporarily occupied by them, the US army
of aggression perpetrated all sorts of savageries such as murder, arson,
rape and plunder and went to the extent of massacring old people and
children. However brazenly the Americans may utter humanitarian
words under the mask of democracy, they cannot hoodwink anybody
in the world, leave alone the Korean people.
The American and British aggressors ignore any international
treaties and agreements in order to realize their aggressive ambitions.
Disregarding the Cairo Declaration, and the Yalta and Potsdam
Agreements adopted and concluded by themselves, they are rearming
Germany and reviving Japanese militarism.
For the purpose of invading the Soviet Union and People’s
Democracies, the US imperialists have rigged up the “North Atlantic
Treaty Organization” under the cloak of a “defensive step against the
menace of communism” in Europe, and have placed at their disposal
the armed forces and military plans of all the countries on the Atlantic
coasts, including Britain and France, as well as the Mediterranean
countries such as Greece and Turkey. They are establishing their air
and naval bases and drill grounds on the territories of these countries.
In addition, the US imperialists have taken up major military bases
on the Pacific for the purpose of invading Asia and enslaving the
“coloured races”. They have refused the just Soviet proposal for the
conclusion of a peace treaty with Japan and have made frantic efforts
to enter into a “separate peace treaty with Japan” to revitalize Japanese
militarism and rearm its fascist army. The idea is to use Japan as an
advance base for aggression in Asia and make Japanese troops the
vanguard in invading Korea and the People’s Republic of China. They
have set up a large number of US air and naval bases in Japan and
Alaska and even on the Arctic Ocean and are equipping and training
the Syngman Rhee and Jiang Jieshi puppet armies in the American
way.
The US imperialists are rearming Japan for the purpose of invading
our Korea before any other country.
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Languishing under the yoke of the colonial rule of the Japanese
occupiers for nearly 40 years, the Korean people were clearly
convinced that Japanese militarism was indeed their heinous enemy. If
the US imperialist armed forces continue to occupy Japan and stay on
there, it will be a factor for further strengthening the reactionary
Japanese warlords and militarism and will pose a grave threat to Korea.
The US imperialists are perpetrating a direct armed intervention in
our country through a general mobilization of their armed forces with
an eye to taking up the old position of the Japanese aggressor as
colonial ruler of Korea.
Whatever frenzied endeavours they may make to intimidate the
people with atomic weapons and conquer them on the strength of their
military technique, the US imperialists will never be able to satisfy
their wicked lust for aggression.
The triumph of the great Chinese revolution, the battle results of the
Vietnamese people and the courageous struggle of the Korean people
who are setting themselves against the invaders of US imperialism-all
this graphically shows that the Asian nations, despised and maltreated
by the imperialist plunderers as “inferior nations”, are capable of
safeguarding their national independence and freedom, if they take up
arms and fight the enemy.
The gallant struggle of the Korean people has proved to
freedom-loving people all over the world that the threat of atomic
weapons will not bother in the least those people who are fighting for
the sake of their country’s independence and liberty. Therefore, the
war we are carrying on is a practical lesson to the imperialist
marauders. It infinitely inspires the peoples of the colonial and
dependent countries and serves as a banner of the liberation movement
of the oppressed nations.
Fellow countrymen,
Such is the summing up of the one year and two months of the great
Fatherland Liberation War we are waging now and the international
situation we are in.
The US imperialist aggressors will never be able to conquer the
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Korean people. What is worse, their combat effectives and materiel are
being depleted in large quantities every day when they have not yet
ready sources of reinforcements to carry on the war, and their internal
contradictions are sharpening. So they are now in a dilemma and have
had to find a way out in ceasefire. Accordingly, the US imperialists
proposed truce talks with our People’s Army on June 30 through the
“UN” Commander Ridgway.
Why, then, did we agree to this proposal for armistice negotiations?
Regardless of the intentions that the US imperialists might have had
in proposing a ceasefire first, those who had disturbed peace all along
now insisted on a peaceful settlement of the problem. And why should
we not have agreed to their proposal? We have proposed a peaceful
solution to the Korean question and still want it now and shall insist on
it in the future, too.
Besides, we did not go to strike first at the US; it is the Americans
who came across the Pacific to conquer our country. But they now say
that they would like to stop fighting as they have failed to conquer us.
So there is no reason why we Koreans, who are a peace-loving people,
should not consent to their proposal for ceasefire.
We Korean people want truce talks. Our people always want and
demand peace. We need and demand peace in order to put an end to the
war, reconstruct our ravaged industries, rehabilitate and develop our
national economy and create a happy life again. Peace is needed also to
prevent the holocaust of a third world war which is frantically being
prepared for by the US imperialists. The Korean people’s desire for
peace is justified and people of the whole world demand a peaceful
solution to the Korean question. So our representative participated in
the talks at Kaesong to settle the problem in a peaceful way.
It is more than 30 days now since the Kaesong talks began.
However, we cannot but doubt whether the US imperialists,
representing the “UN Command”, are really willing to solve the
Korean question peacefully, because by dragging on the negotiations
deliberately, they do not show their good faith for its settlement.
Our representative has made a just proposal for the withdrawal of
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foreign troops from Korea and for the cessation of hostilities with the
38th Parallel as the demarcation line. But the US imperialists are
opposed to this proposal, and pursue their aggressive ambitions,
repeatedly making unreasonable and preposterous proposals which
only reflect their aggressive designs.
How can we explain this?
First, the withdrawal of foreign troops from Korea is the only key to
the peaceful solution of the Korean question and constitutes the basic
factor that will prevent the outbreak of another war in Korea. Their
withdrawal is the unanimous desire of the world’s freedom-loving
people who are opposed to the unlawful interference in the internal
affairs of Korea.
As you all know, the Soviet Government has already withdrawn all
their troops from north Korea in December 1948 in the interests of the
Korean people. But the US imperialists continue to keep their troops
stationed in south Korea and have instigated the Syngman Rhee puppet
army to carry out the plan of “northward expedition”.
If foreign troops stay on in the southern half of the country, it
precisely means a continued existence of the danger of aggression on
our country. No foreign troops are required by the Korean people to
make their country rich and strong with their peaceful labour, to
stabilize their life and to promote their welfare. Only the puppet
Syngman Rhee regime which is not supported by its people and is
afraid of them demands the presence of foreign troops.
The US imperialists keep their armed forces in foreign territory,
while advocating “peace” by word of mouth. We cannot but suspect
that they have some ulterior motives.
Second, as regards the problem of fixing the military demarcation
line, the US government had already agreed to the Soviet delegate’s
proposal at the UN that the troops of the two belligerents be withdrawn
respectively to north and south of the 38th Parallel which would serve
as a line of demarcation. But, at the Kaesong talks, the delegate of the
“UN Command” opposed this, trying to wrest from north Korea an
area which stretches from Songwoltong to Kumchon and Kosong and
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is 80 kilometres farther up into north Korean territory from the 38th
Parallel, or as wide an area as one-twentieth of the whole of Korea.
It is clear that the enemy intends to seize this area of great strategic
importance and turn it into an advantageous military base from which
to surprise and destroy our People’s Army in a short span of time and
invade the People’s Republic of China and the Soviet Union.
Why do the US imperialists persist in this unreasonable demand
with regard to the question of the military demarcation line?
The experience of World War II shows that without bases on the
ground, air forces and naval units cannot take effective action and that
only the ground fronts play a decisive role in guaranteeing victory in
war. Therefore, the US imperialists demand a wide area which is
tactically advantageous, although they say they will give up our
territorial air and waters.
If the US wants peace in real earnest, they should withdraw their
troops to the south of the 38th Parallel. There are no obstacles to
prevent them from doing so. But they refuse to withdraw and try to
draw another military demarcation line on north Korean territory. This
means that the US imperialists are pursuing their aggressive ends. It
can hardly be interpreted otherwise.
The US imperialists are delaying truce negotiations by offering
various excuses and employing tricks. This cannot but give rise to the
suspicion that they proposed the talks not because they were truly
desirous of peace, but because they wanted to concoct some other
military schemes behind the scenes of the armistice negotiations and,
using the negotiations, placate public opinion, cover up their
aggressive desire and ease the war-weariness of the warmongers in the
satellite countries.
Whatever the US imperialists’ motive may be in utilizing and
dragging on the armistice talks, we shall strive in good faith for peace
which is being demanded by everybody. If the US imperialists frustrate
the ceasefire negotiations to realize their aggressive desire, they will
have to assume the whole responsibility for the consequences.
Dear fellow countrymen,
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We have not yet driven but the invaders led by the US imperialists
from our country nor destroyed the reactionary Syngman Rhee clique.
At present we are holding truce talks at Kaesong on the proposal of
the US imperialist invaders. But the talks only convince us more
clearly that they have not given up their aggressive desire to continue
with the aggression in our country and are hatching new plots behind
the scenes of the negotiations. The puppet Syngman Rhee clique are
opposed to the truce talks for the peaceful settlement of the Korean
problem and are clamouring that they must push ahead with the
“northward expedition” and the Korean war.
So long as the enemy does not give up their aggressive designs but
continues these acts of aggression, we Korean people must be more
vigilant against their crafty manoeuvrings, and must annihilate them
not only on the ground as before but also in the air till they desist from
their aggression.
To this end all the people must unite more firmly under the banner
of the Government of the Republic and the Democratic Front for the
Reunification of Korea headed by the Workers’ Party of Korea, so as to
increase our might. Only then can we win complete victory in the battle
with the enemy.
The officers and men of the People’s Army should carry on all
preparations and replenishments so that they can further consolidate
and develop the results already achieved and give more stunning blows
to the enemy’s effectives and materiel. Thus they will wage a heroic
struggle to repel and wipe out the enemy in our country.
The officers should keep studying advanced arts of military
leadership, employ extensively the tactics of encircling and wiping out
the enemy and strive to raise the activity and creativity of their men. In
addition, they must speed up the training of the reserve units and
technical-arms units and further improve their ability to organize
coordinated operations between different technical units.
All the soldiers should make efforts to master their weapons and
improve their combat skills.
Guerrillas and combined units active behind enemy lines should
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conduct brisk combat activities everywhere, destroy the enemy’s
supply routes and communications networks and paralyse their
manoeuvres, and conduct organizational and political propaganda
extensively to organize and unite the people firmly behind enemy
lines.
The entire Korean population should always be ready and alert and
redouble their efforts to give assistance to the front, so that they can
increase the production of munitions and food further. In this way they
will be able to actively aid the People’s Army and the Chinese People’s
Volunteers who are discharging bravely the honourable duty of
defending our country from foreign invaders.
Working men and women, engineers and assistant engineers should
further expand the war industry and tap domestic resources to the
maximum so as to produce more arms and ammunition of different
kinds and other munitions which are needed at the front.
It is imperative to increase the production of daily necessities which
are badly needed by the people by rapidly rehabilitating the production
installations. In particular, we must make effective use of all home
resources and production means and turn out more goods of various
kinds. We must fulfil this year’s plans of capital construction and
production, no matter what kinds of difficulties and obstacles we might
encounter.
Railway workers should participate more courageously in rapidly
rebuilding damaged railways and bridges and repairing the railway
communications network. All of them should work hard to put
transport facilities in order without any loss of time and thus contribute
greatly to guaranteeing transport to the front.
Our peasants have already registered tremendous successes in
farming. They should strive to harvest crops opportunely and thresh
them without losing a grain and pay their agricultural tax in kind within
the set time.
The peasants should produce more compost for next year’s farming
and develop animal husbandry in a big way. The Ministry of
Agriculture and Forestry and the people’s committees at all levels
369
should set up state stock farms and also breeding stock farms
everywhere for the distribution of animals to the peasants.
All the peasants and people’s committees of different levels should
take measures to store both individual and state provisions properly.
Providing the people with daily necessities is now coming to the
fore as one of the most important national tasks. People engaged in
state and cooperative trade should supply these goods to the people
satisfactorily. State organizations should provide against winter for the
people, and especially take meticulous steps to stabilize the livelihood
of war victims whose houses have been destroyed or who have been
evacuated from the battle areas.
As our expenses and losses are tremendous in the war, all the
people should strive for economy in all spheres. In particular,
economic officials of state and cooperative organizations should be
deeply concerned with economization and conduct an extensive
programme for concentrating and accumulating state finances.
Health workers should spot and stamp out in time epidemics
resulting from the enemy’s brutalities and aid and treat those who have
been wounded by bombs and in battles as soon as possible.
All men of culture and the arts should create more patriotic works
for the people and, at the same time, strive to increase their patriotism
and build up a hatred for the enemy.
Everybody must keep a sharper vigilance against the enemy. They
must detect and punish in good time those spies and subverters who are
being parachuted by the enemy almost daily and safeguard state
property, warehouses and bridges.
At every farm village and town a relentless struggle must be waged
against the vicious elements who undermine the state and do harm to
the cause of the Fatherland Liberation War by spreading false rumours.
The Korean people should strengthen their friendship further with
the Soviet Union, China and other People’s Democracies which are
helping us in our war both materially and morally. Strengthening our
friendship with the fraternal countries is a guarantee for our victory in
the struggle against the aggressors.
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It is necessary for us in the future to extend our diplomatic and
economic ties with those countries which have a common
understanding with us in order to strengthen our international position.
On the occasion of the sixth anniversary of the August 15 liberation
I would like to offer encouragement to our fellow countrymen,
brothers and sisters who are still subjected to oppression and
exploitation in the southern half of Korea. The people in the northern
half must always remember the people of the south who are leading a
miserable subhuman life, terrorized, slaughtered, oppressed and
exploited by the US imperialists and the Syngman Rhee clique.
Korea will be reunified definitely and our compatriots in the south,
too, will greet the day of liberation just like the people of the north. It is
our most important task to reunify Korea completely.
Fellow countrymen,
At present the internal and external situation is developing in favour
of the Korean people. The progressive people of the whole world
support and encourage us to win the great Fatherland Liberation War.
Let all of us Korean people advance dynamically, more firmly
united and convinced of victory.
Hail the sixth anniversary of the August 15 liberation of our
motherland from the yoke of Japanese imperialist rule!
Glory to the Korean people who have risen up as one in the great
Fatherland Liberation War and the valorous People’s Army, the citadel
of national defence!
Glory to the Chinese People’s Volunteers who are fighting with
matchless courage against the US imperialist armed forces of
aggression!
Glory to the officers and men of the heroic People’s Army and
Chinese People’s Volunteers and to the guerrillas who fell in the great
Fatherland Liberation War to defend our country’s independence,
freedom and honour!
Long live the reunification and independence of the motherland!
Wipe out the US imperialist marauders!
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ON THE OCCASION OF THE SIXTH
ANNIVERSARY OF THE AUGUST 15
LIBERATION
Order No. 461 of the Supreme Commander
of the Korean People’s Army
August 15, 1951
Men and noncommissioned officers of our army, navy and air
forces,
Commanding officers and political workers,
Men and women guerrillas active behind enemy lines,
Workers, peasants and working intellectuals and brothers and
sisters in the enemy-occupied area,
Today we are greeting the sixth anniversary of the August 15
liberation of our country and people from the yoke of Japanese
imperialist marauders.
All our people and the Korean People’s Army, their genuine armed
forces, commemorate this event in the raging flames of war of
destroying the US imperialist armed interventionists and their running
dogs, the traitorous Syngman Rhee clique, in the cause of the
independence, freedom and honour of their country.
The American colonial plunderers have been invading our country
with brutal force of arms for over one year now.
The US interventionists are doggedly trying to realize their
aggressive design to enslave our people, wring superprofits for their
monopoly capitalists by plundering our country of its rich resources
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and turn Korea into their strategic base in the Far East for provoking a
third world war. But the Korean war is showing clearly that the US
aggressors’ sinister scheme is being foiled and is doomed to failure.
In more than one year of fierce battles, the heroic Korean
People’s Army, the true armed forces of our people, in close
cooperation with the Chinese People’s Volunteers, has repelled the
invading enemy by stubborn resistance and killed, wounded or
captured over 630,000 enemy officers and men. The Korean
battlefields are strewn with rotting corpses of the American hirelings
utilized to enslave our people. The American imperialist aggressors
are not in a position to recover from the heavy loss they have
suffered, hit hard repeatedly by the People’s Army and the brotherly
Chinese People’s Volunteers.
In the great Fatherland Liberation War the Korean People’s Army
has improved its military technique and combat efficiency, proved its
skill in the coordination of offensive and defensive operations and
encirclement, and displayed a noble and inflexible fighting spirit. Our
soldiers have been tempered in battle and have learned how to strike
and defeat the enemy. The People’s Army has gained in strength and
developed into a powerful armed force our people can totally depend
on.
It has shown peerless heroism and patriotism in the sacred struggle
for the independence of its dear motherland-the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea-and for the freedom and happiness of generations
to come and upheld the honour of a victor.
The devoted efforts of all the people to support the front and the
labour feats of the workers, peasants and working intellectuals ensured
the victory of the People’s Army. The people honourably discharged
their duty to the country, tiding over war difficulties courageously and
supplied the front with weapons, ammunition, provisions and clothing
in time.
The war has united our people more firmly around the Workers’
Party of Korea and the Government of the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea, and they are now making more strenuous efforts to
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help the People’s Army, with a firm confidence in ultimate victory.
The present situation is turning favourable for our people to repel
the American invaders and liberate the country completely.
The fighting morale of the hirelings of US imperialism, who
suffered serious setbacks politically and morally as well as militarily,
is at its lowest ebb, and the overwhelming majority of the satellites,
dismayed at the defeat of their boss, went so far as to refuse to send
their troops to the Korean front any more. The arrogant US aggressors
were now compelled to admit that they would he unable to save
themselves by any means from inevitable destruction.
Under the circumstances, US imperialism had to propose to
negotiate with us for an armistice.
From the outset the Korean people did not want war, opposed a
third world war which would involve enormous human casualties and
consistently advocated peaceful national reunification and a peaceful
settlement of the Korean question. That is why we agreed to the
proposal of the US imperialists for the armistice talks and are
participating in them in good faith.
The American aggressors, however, are delaying the truce talks by
all means, trying to impose their aggressive will on our people and
encroach upon the northern half of Korea on various pretexts.
These shameless manoeuvres to retrieve from their fatal military
defeat in the Korean war and recover their shattered prestige are
revealing their aggressive scheme more vividly and adding fuel to the
resentment of the broad sections of the people.
The Korean people and the People’s Army are prepared to deliver
fresh fatal blows at the desperate enemy.
Our strength is growing day after day, and the Korean People’s
Army and the Chinese People’s Volunteers are indestructible.
If the US aggressors refuse the peaceful settlement of the Korean
question and persist in their aggressive plots to expand the war, they
will not escape a crushing defeat and annihilation in Korea.
Men and noncommissioned officers of our army, navy and air
forces,
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Commanding officers and political workers,
Men and women guerrillas,
Dear brothers and sisters,
The struggle for the ultimate triumph of the great Fatherland
Liberation War for defending national independence, freedom and
honour requires a fresh alertness from all our forces and nobler
heroism, patriotism, greater efforts and distinguished service from the
People’s Army and the people.
We should be more vigilant against the US imperialist aggressors
who, in spite of their setbacks, are attempting frantic and insidious
moves. We should further strive to increase our strength in every
respect so that we can frustrate the enemy attempt anywhere anytime
and wipe him out from our land.
Greeting the sixth anniversary of the August 15 liberation, I offer
my congratulations to you on behalf of the Government of the DPRK
and the Workers’ Party of Korea and order you as follows:
1. All the men and noncommissioned officers shall make tireless
efforts to consummate their military skill and combat efficiency, take
good care of their weapons, strictly follow the regulations and
manuals, carry out the orders and instructions of their superiors to the
letter and punctually, observe discipline and order voluntarily and
acquire a strong sense of organization.
2. The unit commanders of different arms shall acquire a perfect
ability to lead and coordinate unit actions, consolidate their victories,
prepare for more powerful strikes at the enemy, and destroy more
enemy troops and weapons and equipment, by organizing their forces
successfully.
3. Political workers shall further enhance their role as assistants to
their commanders, strengthen the one-man management system in
their units, improve the fighting morality of the People’s Army, one of
the decisive factors for victory in the war, and intensify the political
and ideological work of the Party in the units so as to imbue the
servicemen with patriotism and the spirit of devotion to the country
and people, firm belief in victory, the spirit of treasuring their arms and
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hatred for the enemy. In this way they will develop the People’s Army
into a steeled revolutionary armed force.
4. Airmen shall make every effort and display all their enthusiasm
and devotion to train themselves tirelessly in the science of aviation
and strengthen the air force, and fight more heroically, bravely and
boldly against the brutal US air force which has burnt down our towns,
villages and precious property, and massacred our parents and
brothers.
5 The logistical workers shall ensure victory at the front by
providing it with sufficient weapons and ammunition, food and
clothing, and other necessities on time. All the army medical workers
shall treat the war wounded with all their heart and cure them as
quickly as possible in order to strengthen the combat force of the
People’s Army.
6. All the officers and men of the People’s Army shall further
strengthen friendship and solidarity with the fraternal Chinese
People’s Volunteers, act in close cooperation with them and exchange
information with each other and strike the enemy harder.
7. The men and women guerrillas shall harass the enemy more and
more from behind, strike him hard by raiding his transport routes, and
surprising his signal units, munition depots and headquarters, and
expose the atrocities of the US imperialist aggressors to the people
under enemy occupation. The people in the enemy-occupied area shall
struggle harder against the American aggressors and their henchmen,
the traitorous Syngman Rheeites.
8. Gun salute of 20 salvoes shall be fired respectively by 240 guns
in Pyongyang, Wonsan and Hamhung at 20:00 today, August 15, the
sixth anniversary of the liberation, in order to celebrate the historic
victory won by the Korean People’s Army at the front and the great
success achieved by our workers, peasants, working intellectuals and
brothers and sisters in the rear and to attain a great victory in the future
struggle.
Hail the sixth anniversary of the August 15 liberation!
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SUPPORTING THE FRONT IS AN
IMPORTANT DUTY OF THE MEMBERS
OF THE WOMEN’S UNION
Talk with Workers of the Women’s Union
August 15, 1951
Our people have courageously surmounted the bitter trials of
having to retreat temporarily. I am very happy to meet you again after
overcoming them.
During the past months of the war quite a few comrades among the
Women’s Union workers sacrificed themselves in the heroic fight
against the enemy. We should always remember those who have laid
down their lives heroically for the sake of the Party, the country and the
people, and take good care of their bereaved families.
The war we are now involved in is being drawn out. At present, the
front line is at a standstill on the 38th Parallel.
As you know, US imperialism sustained one defeat after another
due to the powerful blows of our army, and proposed armistice
negotiations to our side on the 30th of last June. The truce talks
started in Kaesong on July 10, according to an agreement between
both sides.
The US imperialists proposed the negotiations as a means to realize
their aggressive aims, which they failed to attain on the battlefield, and
to gain time for preparing for a fresh attack.
Besides, through the negotiations they are pretending that they are
eager to end the war and bring peace to Korea, and thus are attempting
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to deceive the people of the world and hide their true colours as an
aggressor.
We are not opposed to either an armistice or a protracted war; nor
are we afraid of a long-drawn-out war. We are sure, we would win it.
Recent enemy moves show even more clearly that they are trying to
use the ceasefire negotiations for their own aggressive ends. Behind
the screen of the armistice talks, the US imperialist aggressors are
making frantic preparations for launching another offensive. They
have brought in large reinforcements and combat equipment from their
mainland and satellite countries and deployed them in the central and
eastern sectors of the front. They are also hurrying up with their
preparations for making a landing from the sea. The enemy is likely to
come in a large-scale offensive before long. So we must realize that the
war will become more difficult in the future.
Ultimate victory, however, belongs to us. We are fully ready to
smash the enemy’s offensive. Nothing can defeat our heroic People’s
Army and people who are fighting a just war for the freedom and
independence of the country. We must fight on valiantly, firmly
confident of victory, to finally win the Fatherland Liberation War.
Flow, then, should the Women’s Union members at the home front
fight?
Their first and foremost task is to support the battle front zealously.
Support for the front is very important in hastening ultimate victory
in the war. The more effectively the women at home support the front,
the more heroically and courageously will the People’s Army soldiers
fight the enemy.
Assistance to the front by the people at home helps raise the morale
of the People’s Army soldiers, who are now at the front, defending the
heights of the country with their lives. In the years of the anti-Japanese
armed struggle, too, the guerrillas fought well with great gusts and in
soaring spirits, whenever they received aid supplies from the people,
reaffirming their determination to win back the country at any cost.
Supporting the front is as important as actually fighting the enemy at
the front.
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Providing effective support to the front is also the noble duty of our
women, whose husbands and children are away at the front. Who else
but the women will help their husbands, sons and daughters engaged in
battle?
Just as husband and wife have their own duties in a family, so do
men and women have their respective duties during war.
Today the women are the masters at home, and it is their duty to
support the battle front.
The Women’s Union members should support the front more
actively, in hearty response to the call of the Government of the
Republic, “Everything for the front!”
There is a great deal the Women’s Union members have to do for
the front.
It would be a good idea for them to gather plenty of broad
bellflower roots, bracken and other wild edible vegetables and send
them to the front. They grow everywhere in our country and are tasty,
highly nutritious and also very effective against diseases. When dry,
they are light and easy to transport. Women’s Union organizations
should launch a widespread movement among the women to collect
wild vegetables and send large amounts of them to the soldiers of the
People’s Army.
If it organizes its work properly, the Women’s Union can help the
bravely fighting soldiers of the People’s Army to a great extent. You
might bring women to build cosy houses near the road where soldiers
pass frequently, cook meals for them, mend their uniforms and also
look out for enemy aircraft for them. How encouraging such a service
will be for them! The Women’s Union should properly arrange the
work to provide conveniences for the soldiers.
Damaged roads and bridges should also be repaired properly. At
present, there is a great demand for shells and other ammunition at the
front. They are indispensable for destroying the enemy. But transport
to the front is greatly hampered due to the damage caused to roads and
bridges by enemy aerial and surface bombardment. The women, who
are now in charge of affairs on the home front, should repair damaged
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roads and bridges promptly to facilitate transport of war supplies.
It is said that the women, now living in the frontline area, carry
ammunition up to the heights even at night if they find the artillery and
other weapons of the People’s Army silent there. Their work is, indeed,
laudable. They should carry on fighting well in the future, too.
More presents and letters should be sent to encourage our soldiers
fighting at the front.
Women are now sending many congratulatory banners, presents
and letters of best wishes to the soldiers fighting courageously at the
front. It is said that some women sent wadded clothes, underwear and
gloves made of fabric and cotton, which they had been saving, for the
time when their sons and daughters would marry. The soldiers are
fighting more valiantly, feeling in their hearts the warm love of their
parents and brothers, due to the presents and letters from the women.
Women’s Union organizations should encourage and generalize the
commendable deeds of supporting the front, so that more presents and
letters are sent to the front.
Ensuring wartime production is an important task for meeting the
material demands of the front and rear. Women should strive to
increase the production of weapons, ammunition, food, clothes and
other necessities, by displaying unlimited loyalty and devotion to the
Party and the country.
The Women’s Union developed an effective campaign for
production of cotton cloth before the war. If women are organized
properly, plenty of cotton fabric will be produced even under wartime
conditions. Every provincial Women’s Union chairman should
scrupulously organize the production of cotton cloth, in keeping with
the actual conditions in the province. The Central Committee of the
Women’s Union should send officials to each province to help it
actively in this work. More cotton cloth should thus be produced.
Furthermore, war oiphans should be brought up with care.
For a long time I have been thinking of discussing this problem with
you.
At present, there are many war oiphans in our country. Their
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number swelled particularly during the period of temporary retreat.
Deprived of their parents by the enemy, they are treasures who will
shoulder the future of the country.
Therefore, we should pay close attention to their upbringing. If we
neglect this work because we are in the midst of a difficult war, it will
only cause the enemy to be elated.
We have already setup orphans’ primary schools and oiphanages in
different places and are bringing up the war orphans under state care,
but not all of them have been accommodated as yet.
Recently fraternal countries asked us to send our war oiphans to be
looked after by them. True, the grim war now leaves us no other choice
but to send some of them to other countries. Nevertheless, the thought
of their parents killed by the enemy makes me reluctant to send any of
them. Sympathy for the oiphaned children having to be sent abroad
keeps me sleepless.
Although the country is in a difficult situation, we must rear as
many of them as possible by our own efforts. To do this, the state
should increase the oiphans’ primary schools and oiphanages and, at
the same time, the Women’s Union, the organization of mothers,
should launch a movement to bring up war oiphans. I think all our
women are mentally ready to help us in this undertaking. Taking good
care of helpless children is a traditional virtue and an excellent custom
of our people. So I believe that if the Women’s Union activates women
properly, this work will prove successful.
Some women have already undertaken the care of war oiphans.
This is excellent. Of course, it is by no means an easy task for a woman
to rear them, in addition to her own children. For the future of the
country, however, women should raise them with as much care as their
own mothers would have, enduring all difficulties. In this work the
officials of the Women’s Union should set an example.
If the current tasks for women are to be carried out successfully, the
Women’s Union organizations should be strengthened and their role
improved radically.
The Women’s Union organizations at all levels should at first
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quickly fill up the vacancies in their cadres with fine women, and train
many hard-core elements. In particular, close attention should be paid
to strengthening the Women’s Union organizations in the frontline
area.
Besides, the Women’s Union should tighten its organizational life
so that every woman observes organizational discipline voluntarily,
without drifting away from organizational life.
The Women’s Union organizations should educate women well in
ideology.
Women should be imbued with our Party’s line and policy. This is
important in their ideological education. Only when they clearly
understand Party line and policy can they carry out in time the tasks
proposed by the Party. All the Women’s Union organizations should
bring home to the women in good time the line and policy put forward
by the Party periodically and get them to profoundly study the Party’s
policies.
In addition, the Women’s Union organizations should widely
propagate examples set by women in the struggle to win the war. At
present there are a large number of women who are taking good care of
war oiphans, who are exemplary in supporting the front and who are
devoted to other work at home. The records of their struggle will make
up a good collection of educational information. The Women’s Union
organizations should arrange such information properly for use in
educating women.
In order to be successful, the ideological education of women must
fit in with the wartime conditions and the characteristics of the women
to be educated.
The cultural and educational department of the Central Committee
of the Women’s Union is said to be giving lectures at women’s
gatherings. A large gathering might be exposed to danger when enemy
bombing is heavy. Individual education is much preferable under
wartime conditions. If you are to educate women, who, for instance,
are taking care of war orphans, you should meet them in person, and
get to know in detail how they are bringing them up, if they have any
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problems in rearing them, if the children are healthy, whether they
follow them well, and if school agers go to school regularly. You
should explain Party policy and the war situation to them, helping
solve their problems.
When giving a lecture, the lecturer should prepare the lecture plan
to suit the specific features of the audience and then speak to a group of
several women at a time.
I hope you will mobilize the women properly and carry out the
wartime tasks for the Women’s Union excellently.
383
ON ORGANIZING AND TRAINING
TANK-HUNTING TEAMS
Order No. 0483 of the Supreme Commander
of the Korean People’s Army
August 24, 1951
The complex battle situation in the Fatherland Liberation War
today requires the application of new forms and methods of warfare.
Combat experiences have clearly proved the importance of intensive
engineers activities in frustrating and defeating the enemy’s frantic
armoured and mechanized actions in mountainous areas.
I order, therefore, that units and combined units should organize
tank-hunting teams as stated below, give them effective training
according to the separate training programme and disseminate combat
experience widely.
1. Three tank-hunting teams, each of three to five men, headed by
an engineers platoon leader, shall be formed in each engineers
company of infantry regiments, and five tank-hunting teams, each of
the aforesaid strength under the overall leadership of a company
commander, shall be organized in each division engineers battalion.
2. The training of the tank-hunting teams shall be conducted
collectively at each division engineers battalion for one month from
September 6 to October 5, 1951 excluding Sundays. Training time
shall be eight hours per day.
3. The chief of the engineers department of each corps shall report
to me the statistics on the formation of tank-hunting teams in his coips
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by September 5 and the results of their training by October 15, through
the Chief of the Engineers Bureau.
4. State commendations shall be awarded to the distinguished teams
in accordance with my previous Order No. 00409.
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LET US DEFEND HEIGHT 1211
WITH LIVES
Talk with Commanders of Unit 256
of the Korean People’s Army
September 23, 1951
Today I am very glad and heartened to see the brave fighters on
Height 1211 in excellent health, mowing down the enemy.
You are anxious about my presence here in the dangerous forward
area. But there is no reason why I cannot come where our men are
fighting the enemy. We must visit our soldiers at the front, no matter
how far it is and how perilous the conditions are.
As we emphasized in the days of the anti-Japanese armed struggle
and still are emphasizing, the commanders must, first of all, have a
correct estimate of the enemy attempt and be fully prepared at all times
to destroy them in order to win a battle.
The US imperialists failed in their “summer offensive” about which
they had blustered so much. When they launched the “summer
offensive”, the aggressors claimed that it could bring about some sort
of change at the front. They described it as a “most carefully planned
operation” and “attacks in waves” adapted to mountainous regions of
Korea. The People’s Army forces, however, crushed it by a powerful
counterattack which destroyed enemy troops and materiel en masse.
So even the enemy had to admit their failure.
Dreaming of realizing at all costs, in an “autumn offensive”, their
sinister ambitions which came to naught in the “summer offensive”,
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the US imperialist aggressors are now reinforcing themselves and
preparing another large-scale offensive behind the facade of truce
talk s .
Evidently, the enemy is going to direct their main attack to the
eastern sector of the front. Foolishly enough, they attempt to secure the
line running through Height 1211, Mundung-ri, Kkachi Hill and Mt.
Wolbi and further, push the front line up to the area north of Wonsan.
Therefore, they will doggedly try to break through the line at Height
1211, come what may.
Height 1211 is of tremendous strategic importance. If we surrender
it to the enemy, we shall have to lose a vast area including Mt.
Kumgang. In case you fail to defend it the enemy will capture Mt.
Kumgang and then Wonsan because behind it there are no noteworthy
hills to fall back on. Since Height 1211 is of such a strategic
importance, the enemy is making frantic efforts to capture it, while the
brave soldiers of our People’s Army are fighting to defend it at the cost
of their lives.
Moreover, if you do not hold out, we shall be unable to frustrate the
enemy attempt to land on the east and west coasts in step with the
advance of their ground forces at the front. Success in foiling this
attempt depends largely on whether or not you hold out for Height
1211 .
The enemy is scheming to launch an attack by throwing hundreds
of thousands of troops into the ground front and, at the same time,
landing on the east and west coasts. The US imperialist aggressors are
concentrating a number of warships in the East Sea and keeping
aircraft and new divisions on the alert for immediate action. In
addition, they plan to drop their paratroopers to the areas of Majon-ri,
Hoeyang County, and Anbyon Plain in an attempt to disrupt our
operations by means of this crafty manoeuvre. Of course, it is not a big
problem, for we have deployed our own units in these areas to counter
it.
We attach great importance to the defence of Height 1211 because
success in it will change the situation on all fronts in our favour. You
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must defend it with your lives, not yielding even an inch.
For the defence of Fleight 1211 it is imperative to first fortify all
your defence positions impregnably.
The primary task facing us today is to consolidate the front. Under
the present conditions where the Fatherland liberation War is drawing
out because of the US imperialist moves to reinforce their armed forces
on a large scale, we must fight stubbornly relying on defensive
positions.
In order to fortify our defence positions and make them
impregnable, we must dig tunnels in hilly areas at the front as well as
on the coastal areas.
Tunnel tactics is a new way of fighting introduced to fit in with the
prevailing situation, our terrain and the balance of forces between the
enemy and us.
We can wipe out more enemies, while protecting our men and
combat equipment to the maximum, if we fight in tunnelled positions.
Therefore, we should mainly use the tunnel tactics in future
engagements.
While making tunnelled defence positions, we should also dig
communication trenches between combatants, between small units and
between heights, so as to link them with each other and fortify field
positions. This is the way to protect our soldiers and combat equipment
from enemy bombing and surprise attacks from various guns.
All combat units must introduce tunnels into defence positions and,
relying on them, hold out, striking the frenzied enemy hard. You
should strive to eliminate non-battle casualties and pay special
attention to the maintenance and strengthening of our force.
Next, the activities of different storming parties must be intensified.
Intensifying defence in position never precludes the activity of a
storming party. Stubborn positional defence should be combined,
when necessary, with brisk, daring and surprise actions of storming
parties. This would enable us to destroy more enemy troops and
combat equipment and throw them into panic. By strengthening
storming actions, the units of the People’s Army must strike the enemy
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everywhere and ceaselessly destroy their manpower, materiel and
various other targets.
Further, fire power must be organized properly.
When the enemy is throwing all his manpower and materiel in
successive “attacks in waves”, we must deploy our men and weapons
properly and organize fire power effectively. Thus we will be able to
check and frustrate their desperate attack and follow up successes in
defensive warfare. Of course organization of fire power should be
efficient with small arms, but it is all the more so with artillery.
As is the case with all other combat organization and tactical
application, foreign experience should not be mechanically copied for
the organization of artillery fire. We must always organize artillery fire
in a Korean way to suit the specific conditions in our country, which is
full of mountains and has very few plains.
We must definitely emplace all sorts of guns closer to the forward
edge of the battle area and bring more direct-fire guns onto the heights.
This is unexampled both in the history of modem war and in any
foreign literature on tactics. With the guns emplaced on hills and with
adequate density of gunfire, you should be able to oveipower the
enemy artillery and give powerful fire support to friendly infantry
actions. In this way infantry and artillery will closely cooperate and
destroy the enemy troops and other targets. You should also organize
fire in such a way as to cover properly the adjoining points between
friendly units.
Next, close attention should be paid to the transport of munitions.
Their smooth transport is one of the basic factors determining
victory in the war.
With a view to cutting off our supply routes and compelling our
forces to withdraw from the present line, the US imperialists mobilize
their air force to bomb Malhwi-ri, Floeyang, Choi Pass and Kosan
areas savagely almost every day. These areas are very important-they
are the lifeline through which we provide our units with war supplies.
The blockade of this route may hinder us from transporting supplies to
the eastern sector of the front including Fleight 1211. Every step must,
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therefore, be taken to ensure the smooth transport of war supplies in
the teeth of frantic enemy bombing.
For this purpose, anti-aircraft fire should be organized
scrupulously. Aircraft-hunting teams must be posted on the peaks, high
and low, in those areas where enemy bombing is heavy, and in the
vicinity of important roads and bridges, so that they can prevent enemy
planes from flying freely and shoot down all the intruders. In addition,
you should increase the number of air-defence observation posts to
strengthen air-defence watch.
Road repairs should be undertaken. A long spell of rain has
roughened the roads a great deal. They must be repaired quickly by
engineers units with the help of the people. Only then can the transport
of war supplies be carried on in a satisfactory manner.
Further, political work should be conducted well among the
soldiers
This will help to boost their morale. High morale is one of the main
factors for victory in battle. The heavier the enemy bombing and
bombardment and the fiercer the battle, the more energetically must
political work among soldiers be conducted.
Commanders and political workers should bring home to the
soldiers the true meaning of the Party’s strategic slogan-never yield
even an inch of our land to the enemy-so that their matchless bravery
and mass heroism is fully expressed in the sacred struggle to defend
Height 1211.
At the same time, the soldiers should be inspired with unshakable
confidence in victory. For this they should be familiar with the justness
of our cause and what is needed to bring about victory in the war.
Our People’s Army and people are waging a sacred, just war to
defend their motherland and democratic system from enemy invasion,
whereas the US imperialists are fighting an aggressive, unjust war to
make our country their colony. People fighting for justice always win,
while aggressors engaged in an unjust war are bound to lose. This is an
immutable law of the development of history.
We have factors leading us to certain victory in the Fatherland
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Liberation War. We have the Workers’ Party of Korea, the organizer
and inspirer of all victories, and the heroic People’s Army and people
united firmly around it. Our People’s Army and people have an
unusually high degree of politico-ideological readiness. In particular,
the brave men of the People’s Army are full of burning hatred for the
enemy, topped up by a resolve to wipe him out on our land at the cost
of even the last drop of their blood. They have been further tempered
and have acquired rich experience in one year of the war. The might of
our People’s Army and people under the wise leadership of the Party is
invincible. This is a decisive factor in winning the final victory in the
war.
Our strength is far greater than that of the enemy in the
politico-ideological aspect; it is by no means weaker in the
military-technical aspect. At present, our People’s Army units have
been equipped firmly with up-to-date combat equipment. The air force
and artillery, in particular, have grown incomparably stronger than
they were in the period of the first advance. That is why US imperialist
air pirates dare not fly over the air space north of Pyongyang as freely
as they used to. Gone are the days when the enemy bragged about their
“almighty technique”. Our People’s Army and people will never fail to
defend their country from the invasion of US imperialism and its
stooges, defeat them and win the Fatherland Liberation War
ultimately.
Next, commanders should always pay great attention to the living
conditions of their soldiers.
Our fighters are all treasures and revolutionary comrades-in-arms.
Taking good care of the men is a sacred duty of the commanding
officers. They should, in a fatherly manner, look after every aspect of
their men’s lives-the problem of their food, clothing and rest, as well
as combat action.
The frontline units may not be able to provide soldiers with enough
vegetables, and they may contract vitaminosis as a result. You should
therefore supply them with greens by all means and, if not, with edible
herbs, pine needles and the like so as to ward off this disease. We will
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send you beans. From that you should make bean sprouts with which to
cook cold dishes or hot soup for the men.
I hear that you give the weak an opportunity to rest even when
fierce battles go on. This is excellent, indeed. I will see that glutinous
rice is sent to them to be served with rice cakes. There is nothing to
begrudge for the combatants who are fighting a life-or-death struggle
against the enemy. Commanders should promptly bring to attention
any problems in the lives of their soldiers.
Last, closer ties with the people should be maintained.
The People’s Army is literally an army of the people, made up of
the sons and daughters of the working people including workers and
peasants and serving the people. It is natural that it strengthens the
bonds with the people. Only when the army and the people help each
other and fight in a body, can they win the war.
Since the people in the frontline areas are not well-off in wartime
conditions, the army must in no way put them to trouble. It is said that
the People’s Army units look after the people in their posts. An army of
the people should conduct itself in this manner.
Now the people in Kangwon Province are fighting well, giving a
helping hand to the People’s Army. If we are to smash the American
imperialists and win this war, the people should continue to work hard,
helping the army. They should engage in farming in the rear, repair the
damaged roads and bridges, and carry ammunitions and provisions to
the front, thereby giving every possible aid to the soldiers fighting on
the hills.
I am sure that by upholding the strategic policy of the Party, you
will turn your positions into impregnable fortresses, organize every
battle meticulously, and thus defend Height 1211 without fail.
392
ON LAUNCHING A MODEL
COMPANY MOVEMENT
Instructions to Personnel of the General Political Bureau
of the Korean People’s Army
October 29, 1951
The battle front has been fixed completely now. Having suffered
great losses, struck hard by our People’s Army, the US imperialist
aggressors have bogged down along the 38th Parallel from where they
had started invasion. After suffering an ignominious defeat in the
“summer and autumn offensives”, the enemy was compelled to creep
to the site of the truce talks again, which they had broken off
unilaterally. However, they may frustrate the truce talks again and
launch into another military offensive.
The war is expected to get more fierce and long drawn out. Victory
in such a case goes to the side which can stay longer. In order to outstay
the enemy in a long-drawn-out war, one needs forces superior to those
of one’s opponent. It can be said that the present balance of forces
between us and our foes is even. We must strengthen the combat
efficiency of the People’s Army in every possible way in order to win
the prolonged war.
It is very important to build up strong defence positions in
increasing the fighting power of the People’s Army. This will make it
possible to protect manpower soundly as well as weapons and
equipment from the enemy’s bombing and gunfire. Also, it would
guarantee free combat activity. The units of the People’s Army must
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build up their frontline and coastal positions by digging tunnels and
connect the whole front line with communication trenches. In this way
they will launch stubborn positional defence operations.
Units must see to it that there are no casualties which have nothing
to do with battles. Each soldier of the People’s Army is more precious
than his weight in gold. Each of its combatants is an irreplaceable
treasure. If the units lose even a single combatant as a non-battle
casualty, it will greatly hinder the strengthening of their combat
capacity. Frontline units should tighten combat discipline and prevent
accidents so that not even a single non-battle casualty is allowed to
take place.
Political and ideological education for the soldiers must be
intensified.
Fortifying all the servicemen with lofty political and moral qualities
through a proper politico-ideological education is an important
guarantee for increasing the fighting potential of the People’s Army.
Political workers must intensify the political and ideological education
of the soldiers so that all of them acquire an indomitable revolutionary
spirit and fight staunchly for the country and the people in any
adversity.
To begin with, political workers must educate the soldiers to be
convinced of victory. This conviction will enable them to overcome
any difficulty and vanquish any enemy. In the past the anti-Japanese
guerrillas had a firm belief in the victory of our revolutionary cause.
That is why they fought bravely for fifteen long years, defying all
obstacles that stood in their way and won the final victory destroying
the Japanese imperialist aggressors. Political workers must explain to
the soldiers clearly that the US imperialist aggressors are doomed to
failure and we are bound to win and, thus, should convince them of
victory.
Political workers must educate the army personnel effectively in
order to equip them with ardent love of the country and the people and
hatred for the US imperialist aggressors. They should induce the
soldiers to have a bitter enmity for these aggressors by informing them
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in detail about their crimes: how cruelly they killed our people and how
they burnt down our workplaces and villages.
The soldiers should be inculcated with the habit of observing
military discipline voluntarily and accepting unconditionally and
executing the orders of the superiors to the letter. In this way all of
them will fulfil their combat tasks splendidly in any difficult
conditions.
The enemy spies and subversive elements are now infiltrating into
our ra nks in an attempt to ferret out all kinds of secrets. Therefore, the
army men should all be made to possess a high degree of revolutionary
vigilance and launch a widespread struggle against the spies and
subversive elements of the enemy.
In order to intensify political and ideological education of the
soldiers, various publications should be sent down to the small units in
greater numbers. The General Political Bureau should put together
educative material in easy and simple terms and augment the
circulation of publications, so that each company should get at least a
copy of the newspaper Korean People’s Army and the magazine
respectively.
Political workers must value soldiers greatly and take loving care of
them. As I always emphasize, they are like mothers to the soldiers.
They must not only give them correct political guidance but also look
after them the way mothers do their sons. In particular, supply service
to the soldiers should be improved and their cultural life organized
properly. Supply service is part of political work. If the servicemen
lead a stable life through the improvement of supply service,
ideological education will be more effective. Therefore, political
workers should regard this service as one of their own important tasks
and pay great attention to it.
The frontline hills are already covered with snow and cold weather
continues. You must provide the soldiers adequately with
cotton-padded clothes and overcoats as well as winter shoes and caps,
so that they do not feel the nip of winter. Besides, you must see to it
that the combatants on Height 1211 and other frontline hills take hot
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rice and soup thrice a day and always drink hot water. I think this is
quite possible if the political workers make good organizational
arrangements and rouse the soldiers to activity. You must send musical
instruments and paper for the field bulletin to frontline posts. I believe
that the morale of our soldiers will be boosted if they live an optimistic
life in the tunnels taking three hot meals every day and drinking hot
water all the time.
It is essential to strengthen the company if we are to increase the
fighting potential of the People’s Army to cope with a prolonged war.
The company is a cell of the People’s Army. It is a unit of military
service and a basic combat unit. It is a combat group where soldiers
sleep together, eat together, study together and fight together. In a
company there are the Party cell and the primary committee of the
Democratic Youth League, basic organizations of the Party and the
DYL. After all, combat tasks of the People’s Army units are carried out
through the company. Therefore, it occupies a very important place
and plays a great role.
Whether or not we can strengthen the People’s Army politically,
ideologically and militarily depends on how we strengthen the
company. If the company conducts good political work and military
and political training, its combat capabilities will increase, and the
soldiers’ morale will rise. This will augment the combat efficiency of
the battalion, regiment and division and also that of the army as a
whole. Therefore, we must concentrate all our efforts on strengthening
the company in quality and raising its combat efficiency.
For this, you should initiate a model company movement.
In launching the model company movement, you should lay stress
on increasing the company’s fighting potential, enhancing the level of
its military and political training as well as that of Party political
education. Stress should also be laid on building up the company to be
a vigorous combat group. If you organize and conduct this movement
properly, there will be a great turn in strengthening the company
qualitatively and increasing its fighting capacity.
If you are to conduct the movement to meet these objectives, you
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should set correct norms of qualifying the model company. In my
opinion, they should be the following:
First, you must examine the political and ideological education of
the soldiers. A company should be judged as a model company, when,
through good political and ideological education, all its soldiers are
fortified with our Party policy and have firm confidence in victory, a
strong sense of class consciousness and fighting spirit, and when its
mass cultural activities are conducted at a high level.
Second, you must check the implementation of the tasks assigned to
the company. As for frontline units, the model companies should be
those whose men have displayed peerless bravery and mass heroism
and achieved a lot killing, wounding or capturing a large number of
enemies with minimal casualties of their own. As for reserves and
other units in the rear, you should qualify as models those companies
that have obtained excellent marks in military and political training
including tactical exercises and target practices.
Third, you must see how military discipline is observed. If a
company is lax in military discipline and causes serious accidents, it
cannot become a model company. It can be a model company only
when it has established an iron military discipline and order and no
longer causes serious accidents or violates discipline in relation to the
people.
Fourth, you must appraise the way in which weapons and other
equipment are kept and handled, and state and public property is
managed. A company can be rated as a model company when it keeps
and handles weapons and other equipment as stipulated by the
regulations and takes good care of and economizes in state and public
property.
Fifth, the model company should be the one which satisfies the
material needs of the soldiers as per regulations and whose men keep
their company neat and hygienic in the spirit of self-reliance.
Sixth, a company which has carried out excellent defence works
should be rated as a model company.
The General Political Bureau should draw up norms for the model
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company in accordance with the above-mentioned points and send
them down to all units. Political workers should widely explain to the
soldiers the political significance of the model company movement
and the norms for the model company, and encourage them to take an
active part in this movement. You must see that all units of different
arms and services of the People’s Army participate in this movement.
You should award the model company flag and the model
serviceman’s badge to a company and its soldiers that have passed this
test. You should not make the model company flag too big; you had
better make it small out of red cloth, so that they can carry it on their
bayonets while engaged in battle or training. You must take the flag
back if and when the company has transgressed the above-mentioned
norms.
If this movement is to be conducted energetically, commanders and
political workers should pay great attention to it. It is particularly
important to raise the role of political bodies and their workers. They
should take the lead in this movement. They should guide it
responsibly lest it should fall into any deviations. They should
generalize the good experience of model companies timely and widely.
In this way you should increase the ra nk s of model companies
speedily.
398
ON SOME DEFECTS IN THE ORGANIZATIONAL
WORK OF PARTY ORGANIZATIONS
Report to the Fourth Plenary Meeting of the Central
Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea
November 1, 1951
After liberation the Korean people, under the leadership of our
Party, established the people’s government and carried out democratic
reforms in the northern half of the country and are now striving to
complete the national-liberation revolution throughout the country.
In the struggle for the freedom and happiness of the Korean people
and for national reunification and independence, our Party has rapidly
grown and become strengthened and is now the force leading and
guiding all the Korean people. The Korean people regard our Party’s
policies as their own and know that they are the only ones which
accord with their interests. The unity of our Party and people has been
further consolidated, particularly in the fierce struggle against the
armed invasion of the US imperialists.
Basing itself on Marxist-Leninist theory and overcoming all
difficulties, our Party has organized and mobilized our people in the
sacred struggle to defeat our internal and external enemies and win
freedom and independence for the nation. The policies and slogans of
our Party have become a great force for inspiring and encouraging the
workers, peasants and all other labouring people to victory.
Under our Party’s leadership, the Korean people have been fighting
bravely against the US imperialist armed invaders and their stooges for
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17 long months and are displaying their inexhaustible might. In the
war, our Party has strengthened its ties with the broad masses and
accumulated a wealth of valuable experience in struggle.
Surmounting the hard trials of war, our Party has won the deep
confidence of the masses and achieved enormous successes in its
activities. This is because our Party has always been faithful to
Marxism-Leninism and true to the interests of the working people.
Marxism-Leninism teaches that close bonds between the Party and
the masses are a decisive condition for victory in revolution. In his
work What Is To Be Done?, Lenin called upon the revolutionary
Social-Democrats to “go among all classes of the population dispatch
units of their army in all directions”. Comrade Stalin says that the
wellspring of the great strength of the Bolshevik Party lies in its close
bonds with the masses of the people, just as the unbreakable strength of
Antaeus, a hero in Greek mythology, was derived from his bond with
the earth, his mother.
Our Party has always worked tirelessly for firm unity with the
broad labouring masses, with the working class as their core, and
drawn its inexhaustible strength and courage from this.
To strengthen its ra nk s organizationally, our Party has in recent
months re-registered its members and reorganized its ranks in the areas
liberated from the enemy’s temporary occupation. We have basically
restored Party organizations in a short period of time. This is a great
victory for us. It means that our Party has the active support of the
toiling masses in the struggle for the freedom and independence of the
country and will be able to exercise greater influence on the masses in
the future.
But some Party organizations and leading officials are failing to
carry out the Party’s line correctly in the work of organizational
regulations. Some of them are committing the grave error of straying
from the Party’s line, blind to the historical development of the country
and the specific circumstances which now prevail, because they fail to
pay due attention to the organizational and political work of the Party
and do not study inner-Party work carefully, but simply occupy
400
themselves with the shock campaigns conducted in each period.
The defects recently revealed in the work of some Party
organizations can be divided into two categories. One consists of
deviations in dealing with organizational matters and the other of
wrong tendencies in their work with the Democratic Front for the
Reunification of Korea and its affiliated political parties.
1. ON THE PARTY’S ORGANIZATIONAL WORK
The organizational principles of our Party constitute a powerful
weapon for carrying the Party’s Programme and tactics into effect.
Without steel-strong organization and good organizational work it is
impossible to fulfil all the tasks confronting the Party successfully. We
have, therefore, always emphasized that organizational work has great
significance.
Our Party is the vanguard of the labouring people with the working
class as the core, a new-type, revolutionary Marxist-Leninist party.
Our Party takes Marxism-Leninism as its theoretical guide in its
activities and learns constantly from the experience in struggle of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union and other fraternal parties. At
the same time, our Party has characteristic features due to the historical
conditions and specific realities of our country.
Our Party always proceeds from Marxist-Leninist principles and
the specific realities of our country in determining its organizational
principles and political line. Therefore, the Party organizations at all
levels must conduct their organizational and political work strictly on
the basis of our Party’s line in such a way as to build themselves up
firmly, strengthen their bonds with the masses, make the Party a
mass-based party, temper the members’ Party spirit and steadily raise
their level of leadership.
Some Party organizations, however, fail to understand fully the
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mass character of our Party and do not reckon with the fact that our
Party is young and the political level of its members is low. Without
allowing for the fact that many survivals of Japanese imperialist ideas
still remain in the minds of the masses, that our struggle is being waged
under very complex circumstances, with the country divided into the
north and the south, and so on, they regard Party members as perfect
Marxist-Leninists and demand too much of them.
While keeping the working class as the core and firmly upholding
the ideology of the working class and its leading role, we should take
into the Party the advanced patriotic elements from among the people
of all social strata and expand and strengthen it on a mass basis.
Today, our enemies are engaged in malicious schemes to disrupt
our Party-the chief motive force in building the state and the militant
core in the Fatherland Liberation War-isolate it from the masses and
sap its fighting efficiency. Under these conditions, it is very important
to improve and strengthen our Party’s organizational work in keeping
with its mass character.
But some Party organizations have done this work mechanically
without taking the prevailing conditions into account, with the result
that many defects are revealed.
(1) SHORTCOMINGS IN PARTY RECRUITING
Many Party organizations and leading officials fail to do
recruitment work satisfactorily because they do not correctly
understand the mass character of our Party and the present situation.
Some organizations have developed a tendency towards
closed-doorism, refusing admission to advanced patriotic elements by
setting up various unwarranted conditions.
Quite a number of Party organizations and leading officials have a
wrong tendency. They tend not to recruit many toiling peasants who
are fighting with patriotic devotion at the front and in the rear, for fear
that this will cause a drop in the proportion of workers. They only cling
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to the prewar rate of increase in members of worker origin without
considering the present situation when, owing to the barbarous enemy
bombing, factories have been destroyed and the number of workers has
fallen sharply.
Despite the fact that recruitment should be stepped up among the
labouring peasants in such an area as Jagang Province where there are
not many industrial enterprises, in the first half of this year the
provincial Party organization has admitted to the Party an insignificant
number of peasants-only 0.8 per cent of the province’s Peasants’
Union members with no party affiliation who are aged 20 or above.
The Pakchon County Party Committee in North Phyongan Province
mechanically places a limit on recruitment and, therefore, not more
than an average of 17 peasants a month are accepted into the Party,
although there are a good many more people qualified for membership.
Though a large number of peasant activists who have displayed
patriotic devotion both in increasing production, giving aid to the front
and fighting against the reactionaries, and many families of
servicemen who have fought well in the war or of people killed by the
enemy, want to join our Party, the Kangso county Party organization in
South Phyongan Province has not accepted them. The cells (sub-cells),
which account for 77 per cent of the Party organizations in that county,
including those in Kusan and Sori sub-counties, totally neglected
recruitment in the first half of this year.
Some of the Party organizations in the Ministry of Transport did not
pay due attention to recruitment and, therefore, did not admit even one
person to the Party in the first half of the year, though thousands of
personnel under it are of worker and poor peasant origin. Today in the
People’s Army there are a great number of servicemen who are
fighting the enemy heroically and with patriotic devotion.
Nevertheless, no education is actively conducted for them so that they
may be admitted normally into the Party. Some Party organizations
take army men into the Party only on the basis of short battle record.
Thus, when there is no fighting, the work of recruiting stops.
Industrial and transport enterprises, where workers are
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concentrated, are important sources of recruitment. Nevertheless, the
Party organizations have not done their work with the workers well,
with the result that recruitment made little progress in the first half of
the year. Shortcomings of this sort are revealed in no small measure in
some Party organizations in the coal mines of Hwanghae Province and
also in the timber industry of Jagang Province.
The primary Party organizations at some collieries in North
Hamgyong Province do not provide regular education for those
qualified for membership and, moreover, refuse to accept into the
Party ra nk s many middle-aged workers who exhibit patriotic devotion
in the struggle for increased wartime production, under the pretext that
they are old and ignorant.
If steadfast persons who are fit for membership are admitted to the
Party and given good political education and organizational training,
their political level can be speedily raised. Some Party organizations,
however, have the tendency to reject candidates for membership on
account of trifling matters or vote down their admission simply
because they lack education and have answered political questions
somewhat unsatisfactorily at Party meetings to discuss their
admission.
The Hyesan County Party Committee in South Hamgyong Province
rejected 212 applications in the first half of 1951, 77.4 per cent of
which were turned down on the ground of insufficient education.
Some Party organizations in the People’s Amy have not accepted
servicemen of worker and peasant origin who displayed patriotic
devotion and distinguished themselves in battle, simply because they
could not recite the Programme and Rules of the Party or because their
political and theoretical levels were low.
There are over 100 working people, including working women,
under the Haesin-ri primary Party organization, but the Nampho city
Party organization in South Phyongan Province pays no attention to
them from the Party point of view, branding them as untrustworthy
because they had to stand sentry for two or three days under the threat
of the enemy during his temporary occupation. Although workers
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who have been officially transferred from other production
enterprises work with zeal and apply for Party membership, the
leading officials of the primary Party organizations do not accept
their applications on the ground that that length of service at the
present factory is too short, without taking into account their length
of service at their previous place of work. There was even a case in
the field of civil engineering and construction where the decision of a
Party sub-cell on the admission of a model worker was turned down
because his period of service was 15 days short of the required
number of days.
Persons who were once in other parties and whose social
backgrounds fit the basic composition of our Party can join our Party if
they faithfully perform their duties, enthusiastically implement the
policies of the Party and the Government and also are active in the
working people’s organizations. But many Party organizations
mechanically refuse to accept into the Party anyone who once joined
other parties.
(2) DEFECTS IN THE QUESTION OF PENALTIES
Through re-registering the Party membership and consolidating its
ranks, the Party has been cleared of the hostile and subversive elements
who had sneaked in, and it has grown stronger.
But in dealing with organizational matters, some Party
organizations have committed the grave error of trying to settle
everything by meting out Party penalties indiscriminately, instead of
waging an ideological struggle and doing educational work better in
order to strengthen the organizational discipline of the Party members.
This erroneous method cannot strengthen the discipline of the Party
but, on the contrary, ends by weakening it.
Quite a few Party members were expelled from the Party or given
penalties because they buried their Party membership cards or left
them with someone during the retreat in order to prevent the enemy
405
from seizing their cards. Of course, a membership card is very precious
to a Party member, since it certifies him as an honourable member of
the Workers’ Party, and each member should keep it properly. It is also
true that if a Party card falls into the hands of the enemy, he may utilize
it to harm our Party. But it is very wrong to expel a member from the
Party or impose a penalty on him arbitrarily merely because he parted
with his Party card, without taking into account his level and the very
critical situation he found himself in under wartime circumstances.
The fact that of all members punished, 80-85 per cent are on account of
their membership cards, clearly shows how mechanically Party
penalties have been applied.
Some Party organizations even ignore the principles and
procedures concerning Party penalties provided for in the Rules. The
Party organization at the Pongung Factory in Hamhung reduced the
Party members who had committed errors to probational members and,
not content with this, imposed on them additional penalties such as a
reprimand or serious warning.
The Unsan county Party organization in North Phyongan Province
did not give any education to those members who were not
conscientious in Party life or who used to be quite inactive and then,
when re-registration work began, expelled all of them. As a result, 80
per cent of all the expulsions were unwarranted. This the provincial
Party committee found out and rectified. There was a similar tendency
in the Ryongchon county Party organization, too.
The Party members under punishment were fighting devotedly for
the Party and the country at the front and in the rear. Nevertheless,
Party organizations at various levels did not remit the penalties
imposed on them. So, on September 1 this year, the Organizational
Committee of the Party Central Committee adopted a decision on
quickly remitting the penalties and issued strict instructions to this
effect to all Party organizations. But some Party organizations remain
inactive as ever in this work. Some provincial Party organizations not
only fail to give correct guidance on this to the lower Party
organizations, but also do not promptly solve the questions raised and
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are not inclined to boldly correct re-registration work that has been
done wrong. By September 15 the Hwanghae provincial Party
organization had only approved 16.2 per cent of the decisions of city
and county Party organizations on expelling members or demoting
them to probational membership.
(3) SHORTCOMINGS IN FOSTERING
THE CORE OF THE PARTY CELL
The Party must strengthen its ties with the masses in order to bring
the great Fatherland Liberation War to victory. We must energetically
carry out all work among the masses and properly organize the entire
Party membership and the broad masses and mobilize their enthusiasm
and initiative.
It is the leading officials of the primary Party organizations and the
chairmen and core Party members of the cells who play the leading
role in bringing our Party’s policies home to the masses and rousing
them to action.
Yet because many core members of our Party are fighting at the
front and some of the active Party members were killed by the enemy
during the temporary retreat, comrades who have not had enough Party
training and have little experience in Party work are now working as
cadres in the primary Party organizations. These comrades have not
done well in Party organizational work and in educating and
mobilizing the masses. One of the most important tasks in
rehabilitating and consolidating our Party organization is, therefore, to
train the chairmen and members of the primary Party committees and
the chairmen and core members of the cells.
This spring, the Political Committee of the Party Central
Committee stressed time and again the need to improve the
professional ability of the core members of the cells and cadres of the
primary Party organizations, help them in their work and give them
political education and training. But Party organizations at all levels
407
only mobilize the cell cadres and core Party members for shock
campaigns and scold them daily for their unsatisfatory work, while
they do practically nothing to help and train them. Some officials think
that core Party members are those who shout at the masses and run
about here and there coercing them into doing things. This is quite
wrong. Today, there are many instances where the masses are not well
informed on Party policy, Party work is done in a mechanical and
formalistic way and the masses are mobilized not through explanation
and persuasion but through orders and coercion. The chief reason for
this is that we have not brought up core Party members competent to
work with the masses.
(4) DEFECTS IN THE ALLOCATION OF CADRES
Proper promotion and allocation of cadres is the most important
problem in the organizational work of our Party. Many Party
organizations still do not pay due attention to the systematic training
and proper appointment of cadres. The bringing up of reserve cadres is
not up to the mark and urgent gaps are stopped by picking up cadres
from this or that place at random, instead of studying and knowing the
cadres in different branches and selecting and allocating them in a
planned way.
Because cadres are not selected and allocated in a planned way
according to their qualifications and retained for a considerable period
but are transferred frequently, they cannot bring their abilities into play
in their work. The instructors of the Manpho County Party Committee
in Jagang Province are not allowed to stay at their posts longer than
four months on an average, and the Koksan County Party Committee
in Hwanghae Province replaced the vice-chairman of the Koksan
Mine’s primary Party committee four times in six months. Cadres,
therefore, cannot settle down to their work and have no time to study
and delve deep into it and, accordingly, their professional level
remains very low.
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2. ON THE WORK OF OUR PARTY ORGANIZATIONS
IN RELATION TO THE DEMOCRATIC FRONT
FOR THE REUNIFICATION OF KOREA
We are now fighting the US imperialists and their stooges, the
traitorous Syngman Rhee clique. These are the sworn enemies of all
the Korean people. We must unite all forces to crush the heinous
enemy.
In the present situation, it is more imperative than ever to rally all
the patriotic forces who long for the freedom and independence of the
country. That is why our Party should expand and strengthen the
Democratic Front for the Reunification of Korea which embraces the
patriotic forces of all social strata. Strengthening the DFRK is one of
the fundamental questions in the struggle for the country’s
reunification, independence and democratic advance and is a basic line
of our Party.
To strengthen the DFRK it is essential to improve our relations with
all the political parties and social organizations affiliated with it and
educate all their members in loyalty to the country and the people. If
our Party organizations do not have a deep understanding of the
significance of the DFRK and fail to give it correct guidance, we
cannot strengthen it nor win victory in the struggle for the reunification
of the country.
However, some Party officials developed wrong views on the
DFRK after the start of the Fatherland Liberation War, especially after
the temporary retreat.
1. They think the DFRK unnecessary. They say that events during
the temporary retreat of the People’s Army have already clearly
shown who is our enemy and who is our friend, and they reject all
those who committed this or that error, and want to label them as our
409
enemies. This is a grave mistake.
We cannot regard all those who joined reactionary organizations or
committed this or that crime during the retreat as our enemies. Of those
involved in the reactionary organizations, the handful of evil prime
movers were reactionary elements, but the vast majority were people
who obeyed the enemy under compulsion. It is a big mistake to regard
them as our enemies, branding them, all alike, as reactionary elements.
As for those who joined reactionary organizations, we should
concretely analyse why they joined them and at the same time take
their ideological level into account. The Korean people had no
opportunity of acquiring advanced ideas during the long rule of
Japanese imperialism and began to be educated in democratic ideas
only after liberation. All the people could not acquire progressive ideas
in so short a period as 5 to 6 years following liberation. Therefore, we
should not reject those who were compelled by the enemy to join
reactionary organizations or to commit minor errors, but educate them
patiently and win them over completely to our side.
Of course, our Party accepts only the most advanced elements from
among the masses into its ranks. Even though it is a mass-based
political party, it cannot admit all who, at best, hope for or sympathize
with the democratic reunification and independence of the country.
But, instead of leaving non-Party progressive individuals and the
broad masses to themselves, we should embrace them in some
organization, give them political and ideological education and
mobilize them in the struggle against the aggressors.
The DFRK comprises people in all walks of life who desire the
freedom and independence of the motherland, irrespective of their
profession, sex, religious beliefs and party affiliations. The DFRK is an
important organization, indispensable for making our Party’s policies
known to broader sections of the masses and for mobilizing all
patriotic forces in the struggle against the aggressors. We should
continue to strive to expand and strengthen the DFRK.
2. Some comrades think that friendly parties such as the Chongu
Party and the Democratic Party are reactionary and that it is
410
unnecessary for us to join hands with them. This is a wrong view. To
wage the anti-imperialist struggle successfully, we should firmly join
hands and cooperate with the democratic political parties and
perseveringly help them to follow the right course.
We should learn to work with the friendly parties, while adhering
steadfastly to the principles of Marxism-Leninism. It will not do to
stigmatize all friendly parties as reactionary on the ground that some of
their members are reactionaries. During the enemy’s temporary
occupation, quite a number of reactionary elements appeared in the
friendly parties. But this was not because of the policies of the friendly
parties.
We should not consider the friendly parties on the same political
level as our Party. Our Party is guided by Marxism-Leninism, has
brilliant revolutionary traditions carried down from the struggle for the
freedom and independence of the country. It is composed of the most
progressive elements of the Korean working people and plays the
leading role in building the state. It will not do to label the friendly
parties as reactionary or unnecessary because they fail to play the same
role on the same political level as our Party.
The friendly parties are democratic in their aims and policies and
are thus fully qualified to join a united front with our Party in the
struggle against foreign aggressors for the reunification and
independence of our country. We should not judge the friendly parties
by the actions of the reactionaries within their ranks, but rather look at
their basic line and policies.
3. Some of our officials have a tendency to meddle in the internal
affairs of the friendly parties, allegedly for strengthening work with
them. The Yonghung and Tanchon county Party organizations
interfere in the friendly parties’ arrangements for meetings and go so
far as to instruct their own subordinate Party organizations to ensure
that these meetings are attended by large numbers of members of these
parties. Our Party organizations’ aim in giving assistance to the
friendly parties is to get their members to take an active part in all state
affairs, help in their political education in every way and aid them in
411
clearing out the hidden reactionary elements by themselves. We should
in this way see to it that the friendly parties maintain their identity and
become active in the great task of wiping out our enemy.
3. THE CAUSES OF SHORTCOMINGS
IN PARTY WORK
It is necessary to make a correct analysis of the causes of the defects
revealed in all work in order to understand them thoroughly and rectify
them. What are the causes of the shortcomings manifested in handling
the Party’s organizational matters and in the work of the Party
organizations in relation to the DFRK?
1. Some Party organizations and cadres are oblivious of the fact that
close ties with the masses are the wellspring of the great strength of our
Party. This is the most dangerous phenomenon sapping the strength of
our Party.
Our Party represents, and fights for, the interests of the labouring
masses of Korea. To defend the interests of the masses, it is essential to
strengthen our bonds with them at all times and listen to their opinions.
We can learn from the living experience of the masses, educate
them and mobilize them to struggle only if we strengthen our bonds
with them. Without close ties with the masses our Party cannot become
a mass-based party guiding the millions headed by the working class.
We should discover what is new among the masses, make a deep
study of all phenomena and take prompt measures. The primary cause
of the drawbacks in our Party work today lies in the fact that some of
our Party organizations are divorced from the masses.
2. Some Party organizations and cadres do not play a vanguard role
in carrying out their assigned tasks.
If we are to develop from a lower stage to a higher, we must boldly
rectify all the shortcomings revealed in our work and advance
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uninterruptedly towards a new, higher goal. Some Party officials,
however, are very lukewarm about correcting their defects, and tail
behind the masses. If our Party merely recorded the masses’
experience and thinking, followed behind their spontaneous
movements and, swayed only by the momentary and partial interests of
the masses, failed to guard their more vital interests firmly, it could not
lead mass struggle purposefully or become a party truly defending the
interests of the masses.
We should always look farther ahead than the masses, set them an
example and lead them forward.
If one is to become a model for the masses, one should on no
account conceal but boldly expose one’s shortcomings. One should
analyse in detail their causes and the conditions and circumstances
giving rise to them and take measures to correct them. Only a party of
such members can unite with the masses and lead them.
Some of our officials, however, do not understand this truth well.
This is one of the causes of the shortcomings in our work today.
3. Criticism and self-criticism is inadequately practised by some of
our Party organizations and cadres and, in many cases, is done in the
wrong way.
Criticism should be conducted not for criticism’s sake, but should
be constructive and help the work forward. Criticism for eliminating
faults and educating cadres is constructive criticism. Shaip criticism
should be made against bureaucracy, flattery, liberalistic acts based on
arbitrariness, senseless obstinacy, petty bourgeois conceit and
tendencies towards localism and family favouritism marked by mutual
connivance. All these should be eliminated through timely criticism,
for they impede our advance. Each Party member should be modest
and always uncompromising in matters of principle. Vigorous struggle
should be waged against those who suppress criticism or dislike
constructive criticism. Resolute struggle should also be put up against
the tendency to make no effort to correct one’s errors while admitting
them when criticized.
Criticism and self-criticism of our errors and shortcomings is a
413
great driving force that advances our work. Those who fear criticism
and obstruct it are cowards and not entitled to the respect of the masses.
Because criticism and self-criticism is at a low ebb at present, many
shortcomings and mistakes which can be fully rectified are being
aggravated until, in the end, they grow into grave political errors.
4. Some Party organizations and cadres become so engrossed in the
shock campaigns of the moment that they pay little attention to
inner-Party work. If we are to fulfil all the tasks facing the Party
organizations successfully, it is first necessary to improve and
strengthen the Party’s organizational and political education work.
As Stalin has pointed out, if we underestimate or forget political
matters, stress only economic shock campaigns and are tempted only
by economic results, all work will be driven into a blind alley. We must
never fail to combine political work with economic work and
constantly direct deep attention to inner-Party work.
Of course, we cannot lay emphasis on only one aspect of our work.
Our Party organizations and officials must not stop guiding economic
work. However, they should not take upon themselves the work of
economic and administrative bodies but guide and help the officials of
these bodies so that they can do their work well, and should continue to
strengthen these bodies. In order to raise the level of Party leadership
of economic and administrative work, it is essential to strengthen
inner-Party work. If the Party itself is not consolidated, it cannot do
active political work among the masses and give guidance in economic
and administrative work.
Strengthening inner-Party work means raising the level of the
Party’s organizational and ideological work.
In Party organizational work it is very important to strengthen Party
leadership. Some Party organizations and cadres have not yet done
away with the armchair method of giving guidance. We have pressing
need of living guidance which enables us to maintain regular contacts
with the lower Party organs, get to know cadres and listen to the voice
of the masses, learn from their experience, give them prompt and
correct guidance and assistance and rectify their errors and faults.
414
Today the overwhelming majority of the chairmen of primary Party
organizations are newly-selected people with no experience in Party
work, and so the provincial, city (district) and county Party committees
and political bodies should endeavour to give them warm and concrete
guidance in a living way.
Some Party organizations and cadres think that everything will go
all right if only a good resolution is adopted. This is wrong. A
resolution records no more than what we have resolved to do. There is
a considerable distance between resolve and practice. Concrete and
planned organizational work is needed to carry our resolve into effect.
Without such organizational work and systematic checking up on how
it is carried out, no matter how good a resolution is, it will remain only
words on paper.
Whether our Party work can be pushed ahead briskly or not
depends also on the political and ideological level of the Party
members. Political education, therefore, is a most important work for
each Party organization and cadre. But many Party organizations do
this work in a perfunctory manner.
In addition, there are a number of shortcomings in inner-Party
work. Every Party organization and official should direct greater
attention to inner-Party work so as to strengthen the Party.
5. Some Party organizations and cadres do not know how to
thoroughly analyse all negative and positive factors revealed in Party
work and to draw appropriate political conclusions.
Records and statistics of Party work are not compiled accurately
and no analysis is made of them. Party statistics prepared by
organizations at various levels serve only as data to be submitted to the
upper organizations, and very few organizations and cadres analyse the
statistics carefully and draw political conclusions from them in order to
improve their work.
In Party work, accurate statistics serve as a true mirror of
inner-Party life. But statistics themselves cannot point out the direction
for improving our work. The thing to do is to analyse statistics
carefully, draw a definite political conclusion from them and take
415
relevant measures to improve the work.
Take the case of analysing statistics on the growth of Party
membership for instance. We have to pay attention to the numerical
aspect, of course. But we also have to take into account the qualitative
aspect what degree of knowledge and political level the recruits have
and to do organizational and educational work with the goal of
consolidating the Party qualitatively in mind.
The Party cadres’ theoretical level with regard to Party work can he
raised only through practice, namely, through actual Party work. We
can make theory live by systematizing and generalizing the experience
gained in our work. If Party cadres really want to raise their theoretical
level as regards Party work, they should analyse a great deal of data on
Party work, synthesize and systematize the experience and lessons
drawn from it, and apply these in their future work. They should thus
endeavour to raise their theoretical level steadily in the course of work.
4. OUR TASKS
In order to eliminate the shortcomings in Party work quickly and
strengthen and develop the work of Party organizations, we are
confronted with the following tasks:
1. Under the present conditions in our country, the most important
task for us is to expand and strengthen our Party so that it becomes a
mass-based party. Leading official of Party organizations at all levels
and all Party members should be given a clear understanding of our
Party’s organizational line-expanding and strengthening the Party in
keeping with its mass character and the specific features in its
development.
We must develop our Party into one representing broader sections
of the people by thoroughly repudiating the closed-door tendency of
paying attention only to the proportion of workers in it and refusing to
416
admit advanced peasants for fear of a drop in that proportion, or
rejecting those people in the factories and People’s Army who are
qualified for membership for the unwarranted reasons that their
training is insufficient, their level is low, or that their length of service
is short.
This, however, in no way means that it is permissible to
haphazardly accept candidates into the Party without screening and
checking up on them. We must strictly follow the procedure whereby
those who join the Party are dealt with individually. We must prevent
spies and subverters of the US imperialists and the traitorous Syngman
Rhee clique and other bad elements from worming their way into the
ra nks of our Party. The door of the Party should always he kept firmly
shut to those scoundrels.
We should accept into the Party advanced elements who support its
policy in the struggle for freedom and independence and display
enthusiasm for implementing it.
2. A thoroughgoing struggle should he waged in all Party
organizations, from the centre down to the cells, against the tendency
towards the “penalty-first” policy which has been manifested in the
work of reorganizing the Party ranks.
According to the decision of the Organizational Committee of the
Party Central Committee dated September 1, 1951, unwarranted
penalties applied to Party members must be cancelled, penalties which
were too severe must be corrected and those members who have been
working enthusiastically after being penalized quickly relieved of their
penalties. At the same time the Party members’ political level should
be raised, so that they voluntarily observe Party discipline.
3. The Party Central Committee and the Party organizations at all
levels should pay great attention to fostering the core of the Party cells
and see to it that the chairmen and members of the primary Party
committees and chairmen and core members of the cells have a good
understanding of all Party decisions and instructions, become models
for the Party members and the masses and lead them in the struggle to
carry out these decisions and instructions.
417
Fostering the cell core is the most important measure for
reinforcing our Party ra nk s and strengthening the bonds between the
Party and the masses. Only through this can our Party overcome all
difficulties and win a brilliant victory in the Fatherland Liberation
War.
In order to train the cell core, cadres from the Party Central
Committee and provincial Party organizations should go down to the
primary Party organizations and help the primary Party and cell
committee members and Party activists in their practical work, guide
them in raising their political and theoretical standards and their
working ability.
4. All Party organizations should pay deep attention to educating
and training the cadres in practical work. The chairmen of all Party
committees should personally assume responsibility for training two or
more cadres of vice-chairman level. Cadres should not be transferred
frequently, instead they should be kept in one place for a long period
and promoted in due course after ascertaining their progress in
practical work.
5. All Party organizations should raise the ideological level of the
entire Party membership. Special attention should be devoted to
teaching the Party members Marxist-Leninist theory and, in particular,
the education of new members should be intensified and they should
undergo ideological tempering. The education of new members should
not be done through the Party education network alone, but through
mass cultural activities and through discussing problems of theoretical
and educational significance at Party meetings. In addition, qualified
comrades can also be given this task. The entire Party membership
should thus become firmly armed with the advanced theory of
Marxism-Leninism and our Party strengthened organizationally and
ideologically.
6. We should strengthen the work of the Democratic Front for the
Reunification of Korea. As our Party plays the leading role in the
DFRK, it should be more active in strengthening this work.
To improve and strengthen the work of the DFRK, the tendency to
418
stress only formalistic shock campaigns should be eliminated, and
democratic personalities from all strata should be educated in a
planned way to promote their ideological progress, and they should be
constantly encouraged to take an active part in state affairs.
Our Party should give day-to-day assistance to the various organs
of the DFRK in matters ranging from the drafting of work plans to the
concrete organization of ways to carry them out.
To strengthen the work of the DFRK, attention should be paid
especially to the following points:
a) All the forces of the political parties and social organizations
should be enlisted in the struggle against the US imperialist aggressors
and their stooges, the Syngman Rhee clique. The
counter-revolutionary elements lurking within the political parties and
social organizations and in all social strata should be ferreted out and
liquidated, and people of all walks of life roused to greater hatred of the
enemy.
b) The present situation in our country should be publicized and
explained correctly, so that all the people give fuller play to their
patriotism and strengthen their confidence in victory, and so that all
patriotic forces are mobilized to fulfil the political and economic tasks
set out by the state.
c) Great efforts should be exerted to strengthen the unity of all
political parties and social organizations under the DFRK and to
expand the united front.
d) In order to push forward the work of the DFRK properly, Party
members should be taught how to work with the friendly parties, and
much effort should be made to strengthen unity, not only at the upper
but the lower levels, between the members of our Party and of the
friendly parties. The vast majority of the ra nk and file of all political
parties and social organizations now forming the united front are
labouring masses, therefore they are our allies who can go all the way
with us. We should always get close to them and educate them in
democratic ideas, so that, joining hands with us, they become
champion fighters for the reunification and independence of the
419
country and the freedom and happiness of the people.
The united front at the lower level should be strengthened so that
the progressive rank and file can bring pressure to bear upon some
waverers at the upper level, check their vacillation and isolate the
undesirable elements at the upper level from the masses.
To strengthen unity at the lower level it is necessary to exert our
Party’s influence on the members of the friendly parties through
frequent mutual contacts. The tendency to operate separately, detached
from each other, should be eliminated. Activities in the clubhouses and
democratic publicity halls, round-table talks, reading sessions, etc.,
should be conducted jointly, and all political, economic and cultural
shock campaigns should also be carried on in common, so that we
exert ideological influence upon the members of the friendly parties.
7. An unremitting struggle should be waged against the
bureaucratic style of work still found in our Party. The entire Party
should struggle against all bureaucratic, formalistic styles of work
which consist of unreasonably berating comrades whose political level
and professional ability are low, instead of educating and assisting
them; of making compromises, swayed by flattery and personal
considerations, instead of criticizing comrades and rectifying their
errors; of stifling creative proposals made by subordinates, instead of
heeding them; of sticking jealously to one’s own subjective views and
so making a mess of things; of trying to mobilize the masses through
orders and coercion, instead of through explanation and persuasion; of
mechanically introducing foreign things without regard for our
national peculiarities and forcing people at the lower level to accept
them when these things are totally out of place.
At this plenary meeting we must discuss all these problems
sincerely, boldly reveal the shortcomings in our work, take measures to
correct them and rouse the whole Party to action so as to bring about
marked progress in Party work in the future.
420
ON IMPROVING THE PARTY’S
ORGANIZATIONAL WORK
Concluding Speech at the Fourth Plenary Meeting
of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea
November 2, 1951
Comrades,
This meeting has been a great success. If we do not rectify our
shortcomings in time, they will prove a great hindrance to the
development of our Party. Many good suggestions on how to eliminate
them have been advanced at this meeting and these will greatly help
push our work forward in the future.
Although measures for improving our work were set out in detail in
She report, I would like to say something more on several questions.
1. ON RECRUITING WORK
First, in recruiting new members some of our Party organizations
committed the error of closed-doorism. This has already been pointed
out clearly in the report.
However, many comrades still do not understand this and express
doubt and concern, asking: “If a great number of toiling peasants are
admitted into the Party, what will become of its composition? Won’t
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our Party become a peasant party?” This is a needless worry.
Our Party is a party which has the working class as its core, a party
guided by the ideology of the working class. Therefore,
petty-bourgeois ideology cannot become the ideological foundation of
our Party, and our Party cannot become a peasant party simply because
peasants make up a large part of its membership.
Our Party can never be anything but a Marxist-Leninist party. Even
if it absorbs large numbers of toiling peasants into its ranks, it will
invariably be guided by the ideology of the working class. Therefore, it
can never become a party of the peasants or a party of the
small-propertied class
Even if the proportion of worker members falls to some extent at
the present stage, the nature of our Party will not alter in the least, nor
is there anything for us to worry about as long as Marxism-Leninism,
the ideology of the working class, remains its guiding ideology and
Party building is strictly based on the organizational principle of a
Marxist-Leninist party.
We will recruit into the Party the best elements from among the
toiling peasants, arm them with the ideology of the working class and
continue to strengthen and develop our Party to make it a mass-based
political party with the working class as its core.
Second, an analysis of the Korean working class reveals a complex
composition which is due to the peculiar conditions of our country’s
development. The overwhelming majority of our workers are
yesterday’s peasants.
Immediately after the August 15 liberation, the northern half of the
country had no more than 300,000 workers. With the development of the
national economy after liberation, the number grew to nearly 600,000.
This means that in the five years after liberation the number of workers
doubled. All of these people had been farming in the countryside before
they became workers. So our working class is young.
Workers, of course, belong to the working class. But not all of them
have working-class consciousness. Much less can we say that the
peasants of yesterday, who have recently left the countryside and
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started working in industry, all possess working-class consciousness,
even though they are workers today. Therefore, as regards admission
into the Party and education in Marxism-Leninism, there is little
difference between those workers who were peasants until yesterday
and are now working in factories and today’s peasants who may
become workers in the future.
Our peasants are not the peasants of the past. They are heading for
socialism, not taking the path of capitalism, for people’s power has been
set up and democratic reforms, such as the agrarian reform and the
nationalization of industries, have been carried out since the August 15
liberation. This makes it possible for us to take large numbers of toiling
peasants into the Party ra nks and educate them in Marxism-Leninism.
Third, at the time of the merger of the two parties, we made the
mass character of our Party clear by defining it as the vanguard of the
working masses, representing the interests of the working class and the
broad sections of other working people. Even at that time, we clearly
analysed the reasons why our Party should be a Workers’ Party.
Why have we made our Party a Workers’ Party instead of letting it
continue as a Communist Party? Because, owing to the peculiarities of
the development of our country at the present stage, it is necessary to
rally the broad masses closely around our Party in the struggle for
national reunification and independence.
The composition of our population shows that nearly 80 per cent are
peasants. Such being the socio-economic structure of our country, what
would become of our Party if labouring peasants were not admitted for
fear of a drop in the proportion of workers? If we accept only workers
and the small number of communists, how can our Party become a mass
party and fulfil its leading role among the masses satisfactorily?
Since the socio-economic structure does not change overnight, the
proportion of peasants in our Party will increase for many years to
come. This is nothing to worry about.
The peculiarity of our country’s socio-economic structure and the
present situation created by the predatory colonial policy of US
imperialism raise the tasks of rallying the broad masses around our
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Party, of expanding and reinforcing its ranks and of building it into a
mass political party. It is therefore correct at the present stage not to go
by the proportion of workers alone but to absorb large numbers of
advanced elements from among the working people into our Party.
It runs counter to the line of our Party to put forth various
unjustifiable reasons and actually keep the Party’s door closed. While
admitting workers, we should not hesitate to admit advanced elements
from among the peasants and working intellectuals into our Party, and
thus constantly build it into a mass-based political party.
As pointed out in the report, however, opening the door of the Party
does not mean admitting everyone who comes along into the Party. As
a comrade said yesterday, landlords, preachers, profiteers, or urban
loafers should not be admitted. We must strictly guard against
reactionary-minded, impure elements and spies sneaking into our Party
ranks.
2. ON THE QUESTION OF PENALTIES
It was clearly pointed out in the report and in the speeches of many
comrades that, owing to a “penalty-first” tendency, many Party
members were wrongly punished in what was like a shock campaign.
This is a serious defect and error in our Party work.
I consider that the errors over penalties committed recently must be
rectified according to the following principles:
Unwarranted penalties must be cancelled and unfair penalties, i.e.,
those which were too severe, must be corrected. Those comrades who
have been working enthusiastically since they were punished must
have their penalties remitted.
Many of our Party workers do not understand the significance of
penalties. The aim of Party penalties is to educate Party members and
prevent them from repeating errors. Therefore, their imposition must
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not be considered in the same light as sentencing criminals in a court.
The penalties stipulated in the Party Rules are educational in their
purpose. It is quite unnecessary to impose penalties on those who have
realized their mistakes without being punished.
However, it has now become the fashion among some of our
officials to mete out penalties. They apply penalties because others do
so, like the old saying: “People cry because others are crying.” Some
comrades boast of the many penalties they have meted out, saying,
“Well, you say you have meted out so many penalties, but I have
imposed more than you.” These comrades have punished people
indiscriminately for having buried, defaced or burned Party
membership cards during the enemy occupation, without taking
account of the circumstances at the time and without considering the
pain and anguish of those punished. This is wrong.
We must make it clearly known to Party members that the sole aim
of penalties lies in education.
Some county Party committee chairmen said in their speeches that
they did not want to apply penalties, but did so for fear of the higher
organs. This shows that the provincial Party committees suffer from
bureaucracy. Party organizations impose penalties without knowing
why, merely out of fear of the higher organs. This is a very dangerous
practice. No question can be solved by coercion. It is necessary to get
our members to observe Party discipline consciously. When penalties
are applied, it must be with the aim of educating members to observe
Party discipline voluntarily.
3. FOR CONSOLIDATING THE DEMOCRATIC
FRONT FOR THE REUNIFICATION
OF KOREA
The need to strengthen the Democratic Front for the Reunification
425
of Korea was dealt with in detail in the report and has been explained at
length in many documents of the Party Central Committee. So, I thi nk
it unnecessary to speak about it again. What is required is more
profound study of the previous documents and reports on this subject.
The aim of our struggle at the present stage is to accomplish the
entire nation’s task of opposing the invaders from 16 countries, headed
by the US imperialist marauders, and their lackeys, the traitorous
Syngman Rhee clique, and of achieving the reunification and
independence of the country. If we are to carry out this national task,
we must join hands and unite with whoever opposes the US imperialist
plunderers and their stooges and desires reunification and
independence, no matter what party or group he may belong to. We
must mobilize all forces, big and small, irrespective of political views,
religious beliefs or property status, in the struggle against the US
imperialists and their running dogs.
Since we are fighting a life-and-death battle against the US
imperialist aggressors and their lackeys, it is most harmful to disperse
our forces. We must join hands with and give leadership to all political
parties, social organizations and individuals who oppose the US
imperialists and their henchmen, no matter whether they are the
Chongu Party, the Democratic Party, the Toiling People’s Party, the
People’s Republican Party, people of the propertied classes or
religious believers.
Our Party members must not interfere in the internal affairs of
friendly parties or hamper their development. They must conduct
themselves modestly with members of these parties. We must
encourage the friendly parties to take an active part in state affairs
together with us and influence them with progressive ideas and our
advanced experience. In cases where bad elements who have sneaked
into the friendly parties seek to alienate these parties from ours, we
must help their members eliminate these undesirable elements through
their own inner-party struggles. There is no secret about our Party’s
policies. We must at all times explain the policies of our Party and the
state to the members of the friendly parties, inspire them with
426
confidence in victory and see to it that they stand with us in the struggle
to realize the great cause of national reunification.
Some of our comrades are arrogant and not modest towards the
members of the friendly parties. It is wrong to make our friends
discontented without reason.
Of course, this does not mean that unprincipled compromise is
permissible. We must always strictly adhere to our principled stand,
exert a positive influence on members of the friendly parties and unite
with them. When some of them do not understand our policies clearly,
we must earnestly explain them. When they do not do their work well,
we must help and encourage them to do it properly. We must educate
them patiently so that they will understand us well and cooperate with
us.
The united front is aimed solely at ensuring the success of the
revolutionary tasks that confront us. Therefore, we must not meddle in
the work of the friendly parties but, for the sake of better work, we
should give each other mutual advice. It is not principled to leave them
to follow a wrong path. When members of the friendly parties carry out
Government policies incorrectly while working with us in government
or economic bodies, we must help them to execute them correctly. We
should encourage and guide the members of the friendly parties to
implement Government policies in all fields together with us, no
matter whether the scope of the work involved is wide or limited.
In our relations with the friendly parties, we must always be active.
We should not wait for them to follow us, but take them by the hand
and give them friendly advice and constant explanation to get them to
follow the right path. Our work in this respect is not up to the mark, and
our officials are not skilled at it. The Party Central Committee has
emphasized this more than once, but many of our Party bodies and
organizations still fail to improve.
The important thing in united front work is to strengthen unity not
only with the upper circles of the friendly parties but with their ra nk
and file. By making closer contact with the upper circles of those
parties, we will create favourable conditions for strengthening the
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united front with their ra nk and file. At the same time, by strengthening
the united front with their rank and file we can consolidate the united
front with their upper circles, and exert our Party’s influence upon
those working people who make up the overwhelming majority of the
masses under the influence of these parties.
To strengthen the united front with the rank and file of the friendly
parties, we should develop widespread contact with their members,
inspire them with patriotism and firm confidence in victory and get
them to understand the justice of our struggle. We must get them to
understand clearly that their class position is the same as ours. We
must influence them so that they will always follow our Party hand in
hand with our Party members even if the upper circles waver. We must
get them to isolate the reactionary elements in their parties.
It was because unity with the rank and file was not strong enough
that some vicious elements inside the friendly parties killed people
during the temporary retreat of the People’s Army. If the united front
with the rank and file of the friendly parties had been strong, their
members, who had shared in the distribution of land and had the same
class position as ours, would not have peipetrated criminal acts against
the people at the instigation of the reactionary elements.
If we attempt to take vengeance on certain members of the friendly
parties because they were with reactionary organizations for a time and
killed our Party members or their families, this will only gladden the
US imperialists. By breeding discord among our people and causing
them to kill each other, the US imperialists are trying to sap our
strength and attain their sinister aggressive ends without shedding their
own blood.
Many of our Party members still do not have a correct
understanding of the importance of the united front, nor do they
understand fully that strengthening the united front is the basic line of
the Party.
Many comrades think that things will go well if only they shout the
slogan: “Let us strengthen the united front!” The united front can be
maintained only by working closely with the friendly parties and
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establishing close ties with their members.
Some comrades think that the united front at the lower level is
something that concerns only the Party rank and file. This is wrong.
There are no superior or inferior members in our Party. Though their
assignments are different, all are equal as Party members. In
accordance with the united front policy, every Party member,
regardless of his position, must establish close ties with the ra nk and
file of the friendly parties, have talks with them and exert the influence
of our Party on them, thus getting them to follow us. If our Party
members strengthen their work with members of the Chongu Party,
maintain intimate relations with them and imbue them with
progressive ideas, the question of rank and file unity in the countryside
will be solved.
The united front can never be formed through coercive measures.
Coercion will only provoke antipathy. We must influence the members
of the friendly parties through education and persuasion and get them
to support us wholeheartedly and be determined to stand by us to the
last.
In the future, the Central Committee and all the provincial
committees of the Party should strengthen the work of helping all Party
members understand our united front policy correctly.
4. ON THE QUESTION OF CADRES
I think that what many comrades have said on this question is
correct. The Party Central Committee, too, has many shortcomings in
cadre work. The education and training of cadres has been conducted
without a plan. Despite the general shortage, cadres are largely
concentrated in certain branches, while other branches are very short.
And when we want to select new people for cadre posts, we find that
no reserves have been trained.
429
The Personnel Department is busy filling vacancies. But it does not
satisfactorily train cadres according to plan and allocate the right cadre
to the right post with due consideration for the opinions of people
down below.
Personnel management is dealt with almost exclusively by the
Personnel Department of the Party Central Committee. There is no
need for this. Such work as drawing up general plans for the training of
cadres, supervising their allocation and promotion and selecting new
cadres of those categories that are subject to approval by the Political
Committee or Organizational Committee must be undertaken directly
by the Personnel Department. However, it is advisable that cadres of
other categories be dealt with by each branch concerned. This will not
only shorten the time needed to endorse cadres, but also enable all
departments to study their own work more profoundly and give
constant attention to cadre training. The regulations governing
personnel management must be reexamined and appropriately
modified.
5. ON CADRES FROM THE INTELLIGENTSIA
It was revealed in the speeches that some comrades do not yet have
a correct understanding of the cadres from the intelligentsia. This is
very regrettable. This question was clarified long ago. However, since
even some provincial leading officials do not yet have a correct
understanding of the question, I should like to emphasize the point
once again.
More wrong views are held about the intellectuals who studied
under Japanese imperialist rule, than about the new intellectuals who
have been brought up in the six years since liberation. I explained this
problem clearly at the time of the merger of the two parties.
Our intellectuals served in the economic and cultural institutions of
430
Japanese imperialism in the past. But since liberation, they have been
serving the country and the people. By keeping contact with the
workers and peasants and learning from their thinking, fortitude and
staunchness, they are gradually transforming themselves into
intellectuals of a new type.
They have been noticeably remoulded in these six years, and have
displayed devotion and initiative in building democracy. The
overwhelming majority of them have fought courageously for the
country in the war. Many of them went down as far as the Raktong
River area to fight the enemy and, during the temporary retreat, in spite
of all difficulties they followed our Party. What more do we demand of
these intellectuals, and what ground is there for not trusting them? We
should promote them boldly, without distrusting them, inspire them to
serve the country and the people actively, and remould them
thoroughly so that they become the people’s intellectuals.
There is nothing wrong in intellectuals having acquired technique
and knowledge in the past. They are now passing on their knowledge
to our workers and peasants. They have played a big role in
rehabilitating and building factories and enterprises since liberation.
The intellectuals have rendered great service. They are not to blame
for their parents having been landlords or capitalists. If they stand by
their parents and set themselves against our social system, that is
another question. But what is wrong with them when they struggle
against their parents’ stand and faithfully serve the Party and the
people? We should not reject their patriotic zeal but inspire them to
greater activity.
Some intellectuals think, “We are people of the transition period
and will be replaced by new intellectuals some day.” They are wrong.
Whoever does not make progress will be replaced. Whatever is old and
stagnant is sure to be replaced by the new. This is the law of the
development of things. But if the intellectuals constantly advance in
the direction that conforms to the requirements of the new society, who
will reject and replace them? We expect the old intellectuals to make
steady progress, and we will continue to help them go forward.
431
We should explain to them our Party’s line in regard to them,
prevent them from wavering ideologically or feeling uneasy, promote
them boldly and inspire them to take pride in serving the country and
the people actively. We should strive to provide them with conditions
for continuous progress and for using their abilities to the full.
6. ON STYLE OF WORK
There are serious shortcomings in our officials’ style of work.
These are more in evidence in government bodies at higher levels.
There is a tendency to be indifferent to subordinates and think
everything is settled once papers have been sent down to the lower
organs. There are also such things as demanding that chairmen of ri
people’s committees or Party cells submit many superfluous
documents and statistics, the preparation of which prevents them
from attending to their duties. When reports and statistics, worked
out at great pains by the officials at the ri level, are submitted to the
higher organs, the ministers or bureau chiefs do not even look
through them well but tuck them away in drawers. I think decisive
measures must be taken to reduce the amount of complex statistics
and reports.
The struggle to eliminate the bureaucratic style of work must be
unceasing. We must get rid of unjust practices such as mobilizing only
the people for voluntary labour service, while cadres hold themselves
aloof from it. Cadres should work among the people and educate them
during work breaks, explaining and propagandizing the Party’s
policies to them.
It is only by sharing the sweet and the bitter with the people that
cadres will be able to hear their opinions and take timely measures to
meet their demands. We should not command the masses, but explain
things to them, persuade and educate them.
432
After this meeting all provincial Party committees must convene
meetings of Party activists to discuss the shortcomings in our work and
rectify them at once.
All provincial Party committee chairmen should personally go
down to the cells, have talks with Party members, listen to their
opinions, and then carefully study their own work and make sincere
efforts to bring a decisive improvement to the work of our Party, which
carries the destiny of the country on its shoulders.
433
ON ORGANIZING TEAMS OF SNIPERS
Order No. 085 of the Supreme Commander
of the Korean People’s Army
November 2, 1951
In order to further boost the morale of the men of the People’s
Army units, encourage their activity in battles and at the same time
destroy more enemy soldiers, I issue the following order:
1. A team of snipers (crackshots) of six to eight men or more shall
be organized at each company on the firing line, from the frontline
units.
2. The snipers shall be equipped with different types of small arms
with sighting telescopes and highly accurate ordinary rifles.
3. Each division shall call a five-day meeting of snipers by
November 15 this year. They shall have to take a short course on the
deployment of snipers, arrangement of their firing positions, method of
camouflage, the snipers’ manual and precautions. The state and use of
snipers’ small arms shall be inspected and long-range shooting practice
be given.
4. The Chief of the Combat Training Bureau shall draft the
precautions, a form of registration, a directive on the organization of
the snipers’ team and its activity. These must be issued by November
10 .
5. Each regimental commander shall give a sniper a register in
which the number of the officers and soldiers of the enemy killed will
be recorded, and the entries shall be made by the company
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commander concerned.
6. In order to raise the morale and the fighting efficiency of the
snipers, state commendations shall be awarded as follows:
The Distinguished Service Medal for 10 enemy killed,
The Order of Soldier’s Honour Second Class for 15 enemy killed.
The Order of Soldier’s Honour First Class for 20 enemy killed.
The National Flag Order Second Class for 25 enemy killed.
The National Flag Order First Class and a fortnight’s holiday for
visiting home, for 30 enemy killed.
The title of Hero of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea for
50 and more enemy killed,
7. This order shall be conveyed to all servicemen of the Korean
People’s Army.
435
ON ORGANIZING AND GIVING MILITARY
TRAINING TO WORKERS OF MILLS,
FACTORIES AND OTHER ENTERPRISES
Order No. 00606 of the Supreme Commander
of the Korean People’s Army
November 17, 1951
In order to put into effect Order No. 194 of the Military
Commission I instruct that military training shall be organized and
conducted for workers of every mill, factory and enterprise as follows:
1. From among the workers in every mill, factory and enterprise, all
male citizens between the ages of 17 and 30 who are eligible for
military service shall be given military training.
2. The trainees shall be formed into regiments, battalions and
companies based on the number of those on the list of mills, factories
and enterprises. Those trainees who are well qualified politically and
militarily shall be selected and assigned to commanders.
In order to ensure military training the following departments shall
be setup:
a) A civilian military training department shall be set up in the
Combat Training Bureau and a civilian military training section in
each provincial military mobilization department.
b) Instructors shall be assigned to regiments and battalions to be
organized, and they shall be attached to the civilian military training
section of the relevant provincial military mobilization department.
3. The Chief of the Combat Training Bureau shall work out a
436
programme for 300 hours of civilian military training and send it down
to every provincial military mobilization department by November 20,
1951.
4. The Chief of the Personnel Bureau shall assign cadres to the
civilian military training department of the Combat Training Bureau
and the civilian military training section of each provincial military
mobilization department by November 25, 1951 and instructors of
regiments and battalions be assigned according to the number of the
regiments and battalions to be organized.
5. The Chief of the General Political Bureau shall appoint relevant
political workers to the regiments, and battalions to be formed.
6. The Chief of the General Ordnance Bureau shall supply training
weapons for civilian military trainees by December 10, 1951 as
required by the Chief of the Combat Training Bureau.
7. Each provincial military mobilization department shall direct and
supervise civilian military training in the countryside which is
undertaken by the national defence support committee.
8. The chief of each provincial military mobilization department
shall complete the formation of regiments and battalions by November
30, 1951 and report it to me by December 5, 1951 through the Chief of
the Organization and Mobilization Bureau.
437
THE IMMEDIATE TASKS BEFORE
HEALTH WORKERS
Talk to Health Workers
November 30, 1951
You health workers have contributed a lot to the development of the
public health of the country in the changed circumstances after
liberation. In the days of peaceful construction you distinguished
yourselves in rehabilitating and reequipping medical facilities and
training health workers. In the Fatherland Liberation War you have
worked devotedly towards the medical treatment of the wounded at the
front and in the rear as well as for the health of the fighting people,
surmounting all difficulties and obstacles.
In this struggle for the country and the people, you have set
yourselves up as doctors of the people, technicians of the people and
true intellectuals of the people. This shows that you are no longer the
same old health workers or intellectuals under Japanese imperialist
rule but honourable health workers devoted to the good of the people
under the people’s democratic system.
However, we never hide our shortcomings. As was revealed in the
war, the skill of our health workers is not at a high level; we have been
unable to train the required number of doctors, pharmacists and nurses
in time; hospital facilities are inadequate; and there are no means to
produce and supply necessary medicines adequately on time. That is
why we have failed to treat as many people as we could have,
otherwise. We must remove these defects.
438
It is important for our future progress to generalize the valuable
experience gained in the Fatherland Liberation War and quickly
eliminate the defects.
Health workers are confronted with more difficult and important
tasks than before.
The basic task before you is to save the lives of the valiant officers
and men of our People’s Army and working people in the rear and take
meticulous care of their health, thereby dependably protecting the
manpower reserve that determines everything, so as to guarantee our
final victory in the war along with the happiness and prosperity of
generations to come. From this I feel that the following points are to be
considered most important in the public health service.
It is of paramount importance to disseminate the knowledge of
public health widely among the masses of people, take preventing
measures against all diseases and conduct a nationwide drive for
wartime hygienic and anti-epidemic work. This is a work which should
always be given priority in wartime as well as during peace.
As you all know, under the past colonial rule of Japanese
imperialism we Koreans led a miserable life as slaves ill-clad and
under-fed. The Japanese imperialist rulers adopted no public health
policy for Koreans, particularly for the working masses who
constituted an overwhelming majority of the population.
Japanese imperialists made every vicious attempt to keep Koreans
politically ignorant and economically destitute and stamp out the
heritages of our national culture, so as to put them under the yoke of
colonial slavery for ever.
At that time there was no such expression as popular health service;
Koreans had taken it for granted that they were destined to suffer from
maltreatment and drudgery and doomed to die of diseases.
But the situation is entirely different now. Our people hold power in
their hands and are making a new life for themselves along the lines
indicated by the Workers’ Party of Korea. They have their own armed
forces, with which they are heroically repelling the US imperialist
armed forces of aggression which style themselves as the “strongest”
439
in the world, for the freedom and independence of the country. Our
people are aware of how they should live and what they should do as
masters of a new era and a new Korea.
Our hospitals and clinics are centres that work for the masses of
people who are creating a new life, not for the rich and privileged few
as in capitalist countries. They provide the people with medical care
free or virtually free of charge. It is not just a matter of chance that our
medical institutions and health workers enjoy love and respect of the
people.
So there is no doubt that if health workers strive with greater
devotion to the advancement of public health in the spirit of serving the
people and rouse their voluntary enthusiasm by imparting them the
knowledge of health properly, it would be possible to develop the
hygienic and anti-epidemic work widely.
Prevention of infectious diseases through a thoroughgoing anti¬
epidemic work is a matter of particular importance in the circumstances
of the war. If this work is not carried out properly, the consequences on
the lives of the people in the rear and the combat efficiency of the
People’s Army will be great. Together with all the people, health
workers must succeed in the struggle to prevent epidemics.
Health workers, whoever they are, should be guides in imparting a
knowledge of hygiene. All the therapeutic and disease-prevention
organizations should serve as schools of public health and hygiene and
centres of mass hygienic and anti-epidemic drive. Only then can great
successes be achieved in the field of public health service.
Next, the surroundings of towns, villages, all workplaces and
schools should be kept clean. Hospitals, clinics and all other
therapeutic and disease-prevention facilities which were destroyed or
burnt down by the barbarous enemy should be quickly rebuilt or
reequipped. The struggle to maintain cleanliness of the surroundings
and restore health facilities is precisely the struggle to win the war. The
faster and more thoroughly this work is carried out, the more our front
and rear will be consolidated.
In addition, we should take measures to manufacture necessary
440
medical equipment and material for ourselves and meet the domestic
requirements.
Next, the health of children and mothers should be taken thorough
care of. It is important to rear babies healthily, reduce the rate of infant
mortality, take particularly good care of pregnant women and those
who have just had babies and publicly respect and care for mothers
with many children. Here, too, the deciding factor is the genuine
resolve and lofty moral qualities of health workers to serve
self-sacrificingly for the health of children and mothers.
If we are to conduct health service to our satisfaction, we should
train more health workers and improve their qualifications. We should
develop a large number of health and medical workers such as doctors,
pharmacists and nurses. It is particularly advisable to train many
women doctors and pharmacists.
We should not just try to fill up the shortage in the number of
medical workers but strive to raise their calibre as well. Acquiring the
latest medical skills is a main link to improve not only the quality of
our health workers but also that of our public health service in general.
All health workers should regard the task of attending the war
wounded and patients as being of equal importance as combat duty.
They should make greater efforts to acquire advanced new medical
skills just as our valiant officers and men of the People’s Army strive
to improve their combat skills.
Our doctors and pharmacists should study hard the progress made
in medical science in foreign countries, theoretically generalize the
priceless experience gained in the war, and spread them widely.
Our medical scientists and health workers have been very poor at
research work and they have written very few books. You should
learn something good from others and, at the same time, boldly sum
up and make public the results of your actual research work and fine
experience. It is necessary to theorize and spread widely the
excellent, new experience gained in the war, for instance, in specific
matters like methods of disease prevention, therapy, transport of
patients and first aid.
441
Another important thing is that health workers should raise the level
of their political and ideological consciousness and equip themselves
with lofty patriotic ideas.
When we conducted guerrilla warfare before, we had no doctor who
had completed a college course of medicine, but we studied medicine
indigenously through books and were thus able to provide simple
treatments even under difficulties. You are really fortunate to work
now in a situation which is more favourable than in those days. I think
if only you make up your minds, you can do anything. All depends on
your determination, enthusiasm and patriotic devotion.
While endeavouring to increase their professional skills, health
workers, through tireless ideological education, should emerge as
genuine public health workers who regard the health and lives of the
people as their own. Only then is it possible to develop our public
health service as required by the country and people in the coming few
years.
Last, I would like to talk about the necessity of correctly estimating
the health workers who work well.
The People’s Army fighters wounded at the front say, “The exploits
of the doctors and nurses who treat the wounded with such strenuous
efforts are not talked about in the papers.” We should promptly
commend and talk at length about the brilliant feats of the excellent
health workers who are respected and loved by our army and people
for their devotion and creativity in their medical care for war wounded
and their service in the rear.
I firmly believe that, overcoming all wartime difficulties, every
health worker, loyal to the country and the people, will carry out
admirably the lofty tasks assigned to the public health front for our
victory in the Fatherland Liberation War.
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TO RAISE OUR ART TO A HIGHER LEVEL
Speech Delivered to the Artists Who Participated
in the World Art Festival of Youth and Students
December 12, 1951
Dear comrades,
I would like to extend a warm welcome to you members of our
national art troupe back home after a successful performance at the
World Art Festival of Youth and Students in Berlin as well as in the
Soviet Union and the People’s Democracies.
The performance of our actors and actresses is highly significant. It
has contributed greatly to strengthening the ties of friendship between
the people of Korea and those of many other countries.
For the first time an extensive public in Berlin and in the People’s
Democracies were able to see the art of our new Korea. They heard for
themselves the vibrant voice of Korean people, heroically defending
the freedom and independence of their country against US imperialist
invasion.
In countries far away from home, our troupe of artists was
enthusiastically welcomed by the people. This demonstrates their
sympathy for the fighting people of Korea and shows the increasing
international prestige of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
The Korean people are not only industrious and brave in the face of
the enemy; they are also highly endowed with artistic talents. We have
achieved brilliant successes in the sphere of art.
You had the honour of presenting to the entire world the artistic
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achievements of our young Republic.
With attention from the Party and the Government, music, dance,
drama and other areas of our art have developed rapidly since
liberation and have been popularized widely among broad sections of
the people.
During their recent tour abroad, our artists presented an excellent
and varied programme including songs that won for Korean art
recognition and acclaim. This is indeed gratifying.
But we must not be content with such success. We must try harder
to raise the art of our country to a higher plane. Workers in the field of
art should strive to make our art an art of the people, national in form
and democratic in content. They should make it an art which fully
meets international standards, recognized for its ardent internationalist
spirit, profound ideological content and high artistic quality.
Art must strike deep roots in the masses. Composers, playwrights,
musicians, dancers and actors have to study the lives of the people with
care. They should use the national classics and popular songs created
by the people as much as possible in their creative activity, since these
represent the true sentiments and aspirations of the people.
In all their performances, actors should portray the people’s
emotions, reflect the popular spirit and vividly express popular
melodies. We should also actively develop our classical music and
continue to improve our traditional musical instruments. This is the
only way our art will reflect the national characteristics of the Korean
people.
We cannot, however, let ourselves revert to restorationism, that is,
glorify everything from the past and idealize obsolete artistic forms on
the grounds that we should resurrect and develop national classics and
national art. Our critical use of old art forms should be commensurate
with contemporary standards.
Times have changed. The conditions of our people, their manners,
customs and moral characteristics have also changed.
Art must always truthfully reflect the people’s real life and struggle.
It cannot ask the people to move backward; it must impel them forward
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towards a happier future. Only art of this kind is really people’s art.
True, our art must give full expression to national characteristics;
but that does not mean that it should remain within narrow national
limits. Our art workers have to bear this in mind.
Our struggle is supported by the friendly peoples of the democratic
camp, and we are marching along in solidarity with lovers of peace the
world over. So our art should sing the song of friendship among
nations; it should educate our people in the spirit of internationalism.
In order to develop national art, it is important to draw on our legacy
from the past. But we should also study the art of the peoples of the
Soviet Union and other fraternal countries in order to learn about their
excellent achievements. This will both enrich our art and strengthen
friendly ties among nations.
Formalism is a serious obstacle to the development of our art. Some
of our composers, men of fine arts, playwrights and actors are not yet
completely free from this evil. There are actors and actresses, for
example, who emphasize form in their performance to such an extent
that they fail to express profoundly the essential content of a play and
misrepresent the ideas and feelings of the heroes.
This formalism must be eliminated once and for all. It separates
form from content, subordinating the latter to the former. Thus,
formalism not only debases the ideological content of art but also
damages its artistic value.
We have competent, veteran artists as well as many new talented
ones. These young artists are the promising shoots we must tenderly
care for and nurture. The future belongs to the youth. We should
devote time and effort to fostering our new artists; we should promote
them boldly.
The great Lenin said: “We must carefully study the feeble new
shoots, we must devote the greatest attention to them, do everything to
promote their growth and ‘nurse’ them.” Artists especially should
remember Lenin’s words.
In order to raise our art to a higher level, it is paramount that art
workers raise their own political and ideological level.
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Anyone who fails to appreciate our actual situation and who does
not clearly understand our people’s activities or goals cannot faithfully
depict their lives. Neither can they create works of art with ennobling
ideological content.
Our new democratic art must have profound ideological content
and must serve the people as a weapon of struggle. High ideological
quality combined with great artistic value is the only valid standard for
judging a work of art. Consequently artists, like workers in all other
spheres, must tirelessly study to raise their ideological and political
level.
Dear comrades,
Undoubtedly you learned a great deal and acquired valuable
experience during your recent foreign tour. You have seen the
advanced art of many countries. I imagine that your ideas about the
perspectives for our national artistic development are, therefore, much
clearer.
You now have the honourable task of raising our art to a new,
higher plane.
I am confident that you will bring joy to our people and satisfy their
demands with fresh achievements. I wish you greater success in your
work.
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ON ORGANIZING MOBILE BATTERIES
(MORTAR PLATOONS), SEPARATE HEAVY
MACHINE GUN TEAMS, AND DEMOLITION
TEAMS BEHIND ENEMY LINES AND
ON INTENSIFYING SNIPERS’ ACTIVITY
Instruction No. 00651 of the Supreme Commander
of the Korean People’s Army
December 20, 1951
Every single shell and bullet fired by the frontline units must
destroy more US-British invaders and the puppet Syngman Rhee army
troops, and the embattled units should intensify their activities to
demoralize the enemy, keep them terror- and panic-stricken at all times
and deliver heavy blows at them by surprise. For this purpose I issue
the following instruction:
1. Mobile batteries (mortar platoons) shall be organized in the
frontline units and combined units, and they shall fire at enemy battle
formations day and night.
Each regiment shall form a group of three 82mm mortars and two
organic 76mm guns, and each division a group of one 76mm mountain
artillery battery and one 120mm mortar battery.
2. Snipers shall be widely organized to act close at the forward edge
of the enemy area and destroy small groups of enemy soldiers, their
snipers, commanders and observers who are active there.
A separate heavy machine gun team shall be formed in every forward
infantry company in defence, and posted close at the forward edge of the
447
enemy area to prevent the activities of their reconnaissance parties and
individual soldiers and kill the enemy when they come in sight.
3. The firing positions of mobile batteries (mortar platoons)
and the heavy machine gun emplacements and snipers’
individual dugouts shall be thoroughly camouflaged and moved
from time to time so as to be hidden from enemy observation.
4. The snipers, separate heavy machine gun teams and mobile
batteries (mortar platoons) shall keep accurate records of the
number of enemy troops, weapons and equipment they destroy,
and the soldiers who distinguish themselves in destroying them
shall be recommended for state commendation.
5. Demolition teams (engineers equipped with land mines
and other explosives included) shall be formed and sent widely
behind enemy lines with concrete plans to destroy enemy
manpower, weapons and equipment.
The demolition team’s mission includes the massive destruction of
the enemy’s gun positions, bunkers, depots, signal exchanges,
headquarters, commanding officers, roads and bridges, etc.
6. Our reconnaissance parties’ activities shall be intensified.
7. In order to prevent blind fire and give heavier blows to the enemy
with less expense of ammunition, the mobile batteries (mortar
platoons), separate heavy machine gun teams and snipers shall keep a
close watch on the enemy round the clock, meticulously study his
movement, find out his observation posts, gun positions, bunkers and
other parts of the forward area where enemy action is most frequent,
and hit them squarely.
In strict accordance with my Order No. 00420, ammunition shall be
used economically, and the use of 122mm gun shells shall never
exceed the prescribed amount.
8. Unit and combined unit commanders at different echelons shall
organize the aforesaid groups and teams properly, share the valuable
experience gained by them with all units and include the result of the
aforesaid measures in the daily operation report.
This instruction shall be relayed to battalion commanders.
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